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PRESENTED  BY 

Dela.van  L.  Pie 

"Son 

BV  4501  .W4  1896 
Webb-Peploe,  H.  W. 

1923. 
The  victorious  life 

1837- 

Delavan  L  Pierson, 

1127  DEAN  ST. 

BROOKLYN,  N.  Y< 


THE    VICTORIOUS   LIFE 


By  Prebendary  IVebb-Peploe 

THE  LIFE  OF  PRIVILEGE  ;  or,  Possession, 
Peace,  and  Power,  being  the  Report  of 
Addresses  delivered  at  the  Northfield  Bible 
Conference,  1895.      i2mo,  cloth,  $1.00. 

THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE,  the  Post-Conference 
Addresses  delivered  at  East  Northfield, 
Mass.,  August,    1895.     i2mo,  cloth,  $1.25. 


The  Baker  &  Taylor  Co. 

5  €r  y  East  Sixteenth  Street 
NEW  YORK 


THE  Ms 

VICTORIOUS    LIFE 


THE   POST-CONFERENCE   ADDRESSES 
DELIVERED  AT  EAST  NORTHFIELD,  MASS.,  AUGUST  I7-25,  I  895 


Rev.  H.  W.  WEBB-PEPLOE 

PREBENDARY   OF    ST.   PAUL's    CATHEDRAL,   LONDON 
EDITED    BY 

DELAVAN  L.  PIERSON 


Kal  avTT]  t6Tiv  1)  riKt]  ?/  viKi)6a6cx  rov  Kod^ov, 

1)  Tti6ric,  i)j.i(bv. — I.  John  v.  4. 

rcj   8e  Qe(2  x«/3Z5  tc3  Sidovri  i}jiuv  to  vIkos 

did  rov  Kvpiov  i)).i(bv  'h/aov  Xpi6rov. — 1.  Cor.  xv.  57. 


NEW  YORK 

THE   BAKER   &   TAYLOR   CO. 

5  AND  7  East   i6th  Street 


Copyright,  1896 

BY 

The  Baker  &  Taylor  Cto. 


PRINTED  BY 

THE  CAXTON   PRESS 

NEW  YORK,  U.  S    A. 


INTRODUCTIOlSr. 


The  visit  of  Rev.  Prebendary  H.  W.  Webb- 
Peploe  to  this  country,  in  the  summer  of  1895, 
is  an  event  not  likely  to  be  forgotten  by  any  of 
those  who  shared  the  privilege  of  hearing  him, 
or  even  of  reading  the  careful  reports  of  his 
addresses  preserved  in  the  "IS'orthfield  Echoes." 

Prebendary  Webb-Peploe  is  well  known  in 
Great  Britain  as  the  head  of  the  Evangelical  or 
Low  Church  party  in  the  Anglican  Church,  and 
one  of  the  chief  i^romoters  of  the  Keswick  move- 
ment, which  has  been  so  closely  associated  with 
the  advance  of  spiritual  life  as  to  come  to  repre- 
sent almost  a  new  era  of  practical  religious 
thought  and  experience.  As  was  remarked  by 
one  of  the  English  visitors  at  the  Northfield 
Conference,  last  summer,  "there  is  no  need  of 
any  one's  going  to  Keswick  who  was  at  North- 
field  in  August  last ;  for  the  cream  of  Keswick 
teaching  Avas  to  be  found  there." 

This  remarkable  man,  Prebendary  Webb-Pep- 
loe, is  yet  living,  and  words  which  might  be 
fitting  to  utter  of  the  dead,  lack  delicacy  and 
propriety,  when  they  anticipate  such  departure 


iv  INTRODUCTION. 

for  the  higher  sphere.  But  it  is  no  fulsome 
compliment  to  say  that  God  has  given  him  a 
very  remarkable  and  unusual  combination  of 
elements,  which  together  constitute  the  teaching 
faculty.  The  Bible  is  his  great  text-book,  and 
of  that  book  he  is  as  thorough  a  master  as  any 
man  living.  His  long  and  laborious  studies  of 
the  Word  of  God,  joined  to  a  peculiarly  keen 
and  subtle  power  of  analysis,  and  a  really 
I)henomenal  memory,  enable  him  to  outline  a 
whole  book  and  cite  chapter  and  verse  in  rapid 
succession,  as  he  traces  the  development  of  a 
doctrinal  or  practical  truth  from  Genesis  to 
Revelation. 

But  best  of  all,  his  teachings  are  illustrated  and 
illuminated  by  an  ex2yerlence^N\\\c\\  gives  unique 
authority  and  unction  to  his  utterance.  There 
is  that  nameless  charm  which  always  invests 
the  speech  of  one  who  speaks  what  he  knows 
and  testifies  what  he  has  seen.  There  is  also  a 
personal  j)ractical  gri^:)  to  his  teaching.  It  takes 
hold  and  will  not  let  go.  It  seems  so  reason- 
able. Scriptural,  resistless,  that  the  hearer  feels 
himself  as  in  a  vise.  The  will  cannot  easily 
escape  vital  decisions.  Unbelief  is  rebuked  and 
made  to  seem  both  too  w^^ong  and  too  absurd  to 
be  longer  cherished. 

A  book  lacks  the  strange  aroma  of  a  personal 
presence;  and  it  may  seem  almost  vain  to 
attempt  to  reproduce  on  the  printed  page  the 


INTRODUCTION.  v 

charm  of  a  rapidly  spoken,  cumulative,  urgent, 
magnetic  address.  But  tliese  addresses  ha,ve 
been  edited  with  consummate  care,  so  that  they 
may  be  adapted  to  tlie  printed  page,  and  they 
retain  so  much  of  their  original  power  that  tliey 
will  be  found  replete  with  suggestion,  original 
thought,  convincing  argument,  pertinent  illus- 
tration, and  all  the  best  qualities  of  the  most 
helpful  and  stimulating  reading  on  these  grand 
themes.  We  risk  nothing  in  adding  that  no 
man  or  woman  who  devoutly  reads  them  will 
ever  consent  to  part  with  the  volume  that  con- 
tains them,  except  with  the  purx)oseof  scattering 
the  seed  which  promises  such  a  harvest  in  holy 
lives  and  consecrated  character. 

Aethur  T.  Pierson, 

1 121  Dean  Street^  Brooklyn^  JV,   V. 

December,  1895. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

I. — The  Spirit  and  the  Believer      -        -  9 

II. — The  Second  Coming  of  Our  Lord    -  37 

III. — What  God  Hath  Cleansed           -        -  52 

IV. — The  Prepared  Messenger    "E'X-lrK\.^l-    ^5^ 

v.— The  Way  of  Blessing       H^^^A^  .  73 

VI. — How  TO  Meet  Temptation          -        -  98 

VII.— The  Servant  of  God     jV^^S^S.      .  ^28 

VIIL— The  Faithful  Lord            -         -        -  152 

IX.— vStand  Fast 171 

X.— The  Daily  Portion    -        ...  193 


EXPLAN-ATORY  NOTE. 


It  is  only  due  to  Prebendary  Webb-Peploe  to 
say  that  lie  has  been  unable  to  correct  the 
reports  of  any  of  the  addresses  which  apj)ear  in 
this  volume  with  the  exception  of  that  on  ' '  The 
Spirit  and  the  Believer, ' '  therefore  any  mistakes 
which  may  have  crept  into  this  volume  should 
not  be  charged  to  his  account. 

Owing  to  the  tardy  decision  to  report  and 
publish  these  addresses,  three  of  them  were  not 
taken  down  by  our  stenographer.  ' '  The  Second 
Coming  of  our  Lord ' '  and  ' '  What  God  Hath 
Cleansed,"  are  taken  from  a  long-hand  report 
by  the  editor,  and  ' '  The  Prepared  Messenger ' ' 
was  comj)iled  from  very  meager  notes  taken  by 
various  other  persons.  This  will  explain  the 
comi3arative  lack  of  fullness  in  the  reports  of 
these  three  addresses. 

D.  L.  P. 


THE  YICTOEIOUS  LIFE. 


THE  SPIRIT  AND  THE  BELIEVER. 


"  Wherefore  be  ye  not  unwise,  but  understanding  what  the  will  of 
the  Lord  is.  And  be  not  drunk  with  wine,  wherein  is  excess  ;  but 
be  filled  with  the  Spirit "  or,  as  the  Greek  has  it,  "  in  Spirit." — 
Eph.  V.  17,  18. 

As  the  declarations  or  revelations  of  God  are 
to  be  accepted  with  implicit  faith,  when  they  tell 
us  of  a  salvation  infinitely  beyond  anything  we 
could  have  expected  or  hoped  for ;  so  the  com- 
mands of  God  are  to  be  received  with  implicit 
faith,  when  they  bid  us  do  things  far  beyond 
anything  we  could  exx)ect  to  see  carried  out  in 
ourselves.  True  faith  bows  before  the  Word  of 
God ;  for  that  word  can  only  convey  Divine  facts 
or  principles  concerning  the  salvation  accom- 
plished for  us.  We  do  wisely  to  lay  our  heads 
in  the  dust ;  or  we  may  be  tempted  to  say  that 
the  thing  revealed  is  impossible  for  us,  because 
it  is  beyond  what  we  could  have  expected  to  be 
true.  When,  therefore,  God  lays  upon  us  a 
command,  we  should  say  at  once,  ''It  must  be 
true  and  possible ;  ' '  though  by  nature  we  may 
be  inclined  to    think,    "  It  is   impossible;    and 


10  THE   VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

could  never  be  earned  out  in  such  a  creature  as 
I  am."  Exactly  as  we  say  to  a  poor  helpless 
inquiring  soul  ''This  is  the  record,  that  God 
hath  given  to  us  eternal  life,  and  that  life  is  in 
his  Son.  ...  He  that  believeth  not  God  hath 
made  him  a  liar;  "  so,  when  we  come  to  a  com- 
mand that  has  relation  to  our  j)rogress  in  spirit- 
ual life,  we  ought  to  remember  that  the  record 
is  the  word  that  God  hath  spoken  to  us ;  that 
it  is  for  us  to  accept  it  as  his  command  to  us  indi- 
vidually; that  it  must  be  possible  for  God  to 
carry  it  out  in  the  creature;  and  that  by  dis- 
belief we  make  God  a  liar. 

To  the  child  of  God,  yearning  for  holiness, 
there  is  something  exceedingly  precious  and 
delightful  in  approaching  a  command  that  seems 
to  be  naturally  impossible;  because  he  realizes 
that  the  Lord  gave  the  word,  and  that  it  is  for 
the  Lord  to  make  x)ossible  of  fulfillment  in  his 
child  that  Avhich  he  commands.  For  surely  we 
can  say  with  Augustine,  ' '  Give  what  Thou  com- 
mandest,  then  command  what  Thou  wilt." 
Yea,  let  God  command  what  he  will ;  it  must  be 
carried  out ;  only  on  one  condition — that  we  be 
*'  willing  in  the  day  of  his  x)ower." 

As  we  apj)roach  this  intensely  solemn  com- 
mand :  "Be  filled  with  the  Spirit, ' '  there  is  not 
one  of  us  who  would  not  feel  it  to  be  almost 
blasj)hemous  for  such  words  to  be  expressed  by 
mortal  man,  were  it  not  that  they  came  by  inspi- 


THE  SPIRIT  AND  THE  BELIEVER.  \\ 

ration  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  that  the  man  who 
wrote  them  was  empowered  by  the  Spirit  to  liand 
sucli  words  down  to  the  wliole  Churcli  of  God. 
Tlierefore,  it  cannot  be  an  impossibility  or  God 
wonld  never  have  uttered  the  commandment.  It 
rests  upon  the  creature  to  see  that,  according  to 
God's  plan  of  fulfilment,  it  shall  be  carried  out 
in  him ;  and  that  he  shall  not  thwart  or  hinder 
the  will  of  God  by  unbelief,  or  by  any  continu- 
ance in  that  which  is  evil.  It  is  an  exceedingly 
solemn  thing  to  take  up  such  a  command,  and  to 
believe  that  what  hitherto  seemed  so  absolutely 
beyond  our  reach  is  intended  by  God  for  us  all ; 
for  while  we  hear  again  and  again  of  aspirations 
after  the  blessings  that  would  come  from  being 
filled  with  the  Spirit,  very  few  of  God's  children 
seem  to  believe  that  the  fault  is  in  themselves  if 
it  is  not  realized ;  or  that  the  hindrance  cannot 
lie  with  God,  but  must  lie  with  us,  if  his  will  is 
not  completely  carried  out.  With  regard  to  all 
such  commands,  the  full  and  final  accomplish- 
ment of  them  must  wait  for  the  day  when  our 
bodies  shall  be  fashioned  like  the  body  of  the 
glory  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  because  our 
body,  being  still  subject  to  corruption,  cannot 
receive  into  the  corrupt  parts  that  Sj)irit  of  God 
which  is  everlasting  life,  and  which  knows  no 
taint  of  corruption. 

The  question  for  us  is  this  : — How  near  to  the 
accomplishment  of  God's  will  is  it  i^ossible  for 


12  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

the  believer  to  come  in  the  life  that  now  is,  while 
waiting  for  the  full  and  absolute  perfection  of 
accomplishment  at  the  day  of  the  Lord's  ai3j)ear- 
ing  ?  The  great  grief  and  shame  that  lie  npon  the 
Church  is  that  as  a  whole  she  is  willing  to  remain 
so  far  away  from  God's  holy  purjDose.  For  in- 
stance, Christ  says,  "Be  ye  perfect,"  or,  "Ye 
shall  be  perfect  as  your  Father  in  Heaven  is  per- 
fect; "  and  the  majority  of  Christians  say  that 
because  there  is  no  exj)erimental  perfection  to  be 
had  in  this  world,  therefore  they  will  not  make 
an  essay  to  see  how  nearly  they  can  reach  perfec- 
tion in  this  life.  Dogmatic  theology  says  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  cannot  pervade  that  which  is  corrnj)t, 
therefore  the  majority  seem  to  think  they  may 
be  content  to  live  a  life  very,  very  far  below  that 
spiritual  life  traced  in  God's  Holy  Word. 

We  are  desirous  of  ascertaining  how  near  to 
this  glorious  conformity  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
we  may  attain  by  simj)le  acceptance  of  God's 
purpose  for  our  lives,  and  how  near  we  may 
come  in  this  world  of  sin  to  knowing  even 
as  we  are  known  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
Therefore,  as  we  approach  the  solemn  subject, 
my  first  charge  is  : — Hinder  not  the  will  of  God  by  a 
spirit  of  unbelief;  by  limiting  the  Holy  One  of  Israel ; 
])ecause  you  thereby  reject  his  holy  counsel  and 
purpose  for  you.  Train  your  souls  in  a  spirit 
of  receptivity,  and  by  the  exercise  of  faith,  to 
take  all  that  God    himself  can  give.     Be  deter- 


THE  SPIRIT  AXD  THE  BELIEVER.  13 

mined  that  "  your  whole  spirit,  sonl  and  body" — 
whatever  department  of  your  being  you  can  deal 
wdtli — shall  be  placed  submissively  at  the  dis- 
posal of  God,  to  know,  to  receive,  and  to  enjoy, 
everything-  that  God  can  possibly  give  you,  while 
you  are,  alas,  in  the  body  of  corruption. 

There  are  many  differences  of  opinion  as  to 
how  far  we  can  be  filled  with  the  Spirit ;  as  to 
the  means  by  which  this  fullness  is  to  be  secured ; 
as  to  what  will  be  the  signs  of  being  filled ;  and 
what  are  the  hindrances  in  ourselves,  to  our  yield- 
ing ample  and  implicit  obedience  to  the  command- 
ment of  the  Lord.  I  shall  therefore  divide  my 
subject  into  three  special  branches,  which  I 
would  entitle: — 

I.  The  Universal  Endotoment  with  the  Holy 
Ghost,  which  God  has  bestowed  upon  the  Church 
and  the  world. 

II.  The  Individual  Enduement  with  God  the 
Holy  Ghost,  which  takes  place  with  regard  to 
every  soul  when  it  is  brought  into  the  knowledge 
of  its  acceptance  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  is  made 
alive  unto  God  through  Him. 

III.  The  Personal  Enjoyment  which  may  be 
known  by  the  saint  as  he  i^rogresses,  or  accepts 
continually  more  and  more  of  the  gift  that  God 
has  bestowed  w\)(d\\  him. 

We  ought  not  to  feel  that  we  are  entering 
upon  controversy  or  hurting  one  another's  feel- 
ings, because  terms  are  used  that  slightly  differ 


14  THE  VICTOBIOUS  LIFE. 

from  those  which  our  brethren  might  emx)loy. 
We  are  all  equally  interested  in  discovering  the 
truth,  and  I  desire  to  set  forth  exactly  what 
the  Word  of  God  says. 

I.  Look,  first,  at  the  uis^iversal  et^dowmei^t 
with  God  the  Holy  Ghost  as  a  gift.  God's 
Word  makes  it  clear  that  there  has  bee  a 
bestowed  once  for  all  the  gift  by  God  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  as  a  person  /  and  it  would  be  as 
inconceivable  that  we  should  ask  God  to  send 
his  Son  to  be  born  again  in  the  flesh,  and  to  i)ass 
again  through  the  great  work  of  our  redemj)tion, 
as  it  is  for  us  (reasonably  and  theologically  and 
Biblically)  to  ask  God  to  give  again  the  gift  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  which  he  has  once  for  all 
bestowed.  But  this  will  not  prevent  a  constant 
repetition  of  earnest  prayer  for  the  exj^erience 
described  in  Luke  xi.  13:  "If  ye  then,  being 
evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your 
children,  how  much  more  shall  your  Heavenly 
Father  give  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him !  " 
There  is  no  article  ' '  the  ' '  in  that  passage ;  the 
word  is  partitive,  not  personal;  it  is  "Holy 
Spirit. ' '  There  is  no  doubt  that  none  of  us  have 
realized  the  fullness  of  the  possibilities  that 
might  be  expected  concerning  the  gift,  or 
powers,  or  qualities  of  this  "Holy  Ghost;  "  and 
that  the  holiest  will  always  be  conscious  of 
needing  more.  It  is  one  thing  for  me  to  ask 
God  to  give  me  more  of  the  Spirit  in  my  own  per- 


THE  SPIRIT  AND  THE  BELIEVER,  15 

sonal  enjoyment ;  it  is  another  tiling  to  ask  God 
to  give  his  own  j)ei'fect  gift  again  from  heaven, 
as  though  he  never  liad  bestowed  it.  It  is  one 
thing  to  recognize  tliat  I  liave  failed  to  take  and 
to  use  what  my  Father  has  bestowed;  it  is 
another  thing  to  charge  my  Father  with  not 
having  bestowed  what  he  says  he  has  given. 

God's  word  tells  us  plainly  that  the  Holy  Ghost 
is  already  given  as  the  universal  income  of  the 
Church.  He  is  called  "  the  earnest  of  our  in- 
heritance." We  shall  know  the  full  extent  of 
our  inheritance  when  w^e  see  Jesus  as  he  is,  but 
meanwhile  the  Holy  Ghost  is  described  as  "  the 
earnest."  A  man  may  possess  a  splendid  income 
and  yet  may  never  have  seen  his  magnificent 
property.  What  we  enjoy  of  our  income  is  the 
measure  of  holiness  Avliich  we  really  i)ossess  and 
exhibit  in  this  life.  Holiness  may  be  said  to  be 
the  expenditure  of  income  received  through  God's 
gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Hereafter  the  inheri- 
tance will  be  ours  in  its  fullness ;  then  we  shall 
know^  as  we  are  known. 

In  order  to  l)e  assured  that  there  has  been  an 
actual  ])estowment,  once  for  all,  of  the  Person  of 
God  "The  Holy  Ghost,"  as  distinguished  from 
his  qualities,  turn  to  God's  Word,  and  judge  ye 
w^hat  is  said !  Look  first  into  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures,  and  see  the  nature  of  the  promises 
concerning  the  Spirit.  Jesus  bids  his  disciples 
look  for  the  Holy  Ghost  as  "the  promise  of  the 


16  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

Father."  What  is  the  nature  of  that  promise? 
— First  there  is  the  thought  in  Psahn  Ixviii.  18, 
that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ascending  on  high, 
led  ca  J)  tivity  captive,  to  "receive  gifts  for  men.^'' 
If  we  turn  to  St.  Paul's  declaration  of  the  fulfill- 
ment in  Ephesians  iv.  8,  we  find  that  he  changes 
the  words  to  read:  "He  led  captivity  captive 
and  gave  gifts  unto  meny  In  the  former  case 
it  was  '' received  gifts  for  men;"  in  the  latter 
case,  after  Pentecost,  he  "gave  gifts  unto  men." 
Therefore,  clearh^,  tluit  promise  or  x>i'opliecy 
has  been  fulfilled. 

AVith  regard  to  the  promises  which  distinc- 
tively mark  God's  intention  to  give  the  Holy 
Ghost,  turn  to  Isaiah  xliv.  3  :  "I  will  pour  water 
upon  him  that  is  thirsty,  and  floods  upon  the 
dry  ground ;  I  will  jiour  my  Spirit  upon  thy  seed 
and  my  blessings  upon  thine  offspring."  Again 
in  Isaiah  xxxii.  15,  the  prophet  said  that  full 
blessings  could  not  come  upon  the  land  "until 
the  Spirit  be  poured  upon  us  from  on  high." 
Again  God,  by  the  mouth  of  the  prophet 
Ezekiel,  says :  "I  will  jDut  my  Spirit  wdthin  you, 
and  cause  you  to  walk  in  my  statutes,  and  ye 
shall  keej)  my  judgments  "  (Ezekiel  xxxvi.  27). 
"I  have  poured  out  my  Spirit  ui)on  the  house 
of  Israel,  saith  the  Lord  God"  (Ezekiel  xxxix. 
'2'6).  And  later  on  in  the  same  prophecy :  It  is 
a  solemn  question  w  hen  these  words  shall  have 
received  their  fulfillment.     Turn  next  to  Zacha- 


THE  SPIRIT  ASD  THE  BELIEVER.  17 

riah  xii.  10,  and  read :  ^'I  will  pour  upon  the 
house  of  David,  and  upon  the  inhabitants  of 
Jerusalem,  the  spirit  of  grace  and  of  supplica- 
tions; and  they  shall  look  upon  me  whom  they 
have  pierced."  I  cannot  deal  fully  with  these 
texts,  but  simply  point  them  out  that  you  may 
•study  them  and  judge  for  yourselves  to  what 
particular  period  of  history  they  refer. 

We  now  come  to  the  great  passage  in  Joel  ii. 
28,   29,  which   must  always   be   considered  the 
special   promise  for  this  dispensation:   "I  will 
pour  out  my  Spirit  upon  all  flesh ;  and  your  sons 
and   your   daughters  shall   prophecy,  your  old 
men  shall  dream  dreams,  your  young  men  shall 
see  visions;    and   also  upon   the   servants   and 
upon  the  handmaids  in  those  days  will  I  pour 
out  my  Spirit."     I  have  noted  several  texts  that 
speak  of   God's  '^pouring   out"  of  his   Spirit, 
and  this  one  is  the  key  text  to  the  whole,  because 
in  Acts  ii.  IG  the  apostle  Peter  makes  use  of  a 
most  remarkable  expression,  as  far  as  I  know, 
found  nowhere  else  in  the  Bible,  with   regard 
to  the  fulfillment    of    a    prophecy.       He    says : 
"Thisis  that  which  was  spoken  by  the  prophet 
Joel. ' '    In  every  other  case  in  the  Xew  Testament 
you  read,  ''That  it  might  be  fulfilled"  (show- 
ing   that    it   is    an   application);    or    ''as    the 
prophet    has   said"    (showing    that    the   writer 
takes  up  the  prophet's  words).     But  here  Peter 
says :    ' '  Th is  is  that  icli icTi  was  spolcen  hy  Joeiy 


18  THE  VICTOEIOrS  LIFE. 

I  have  three  great  authorities  for  my  interpre- 
tation of  these  words.  Dr.  Pus^y,  a  very  eminent 
theologian,  says  in  his  ''Commentary  on  the 
Minor  Prophets  "  :  "  Concerning  this  ^Dromise  of 
the  Spirit,  God  says,  I  will  pour  out,  /.  e.,  give 
largely;  as  though  he  would  empty  out  him 
who  is  Infinite,  so  that  there  should  be  no  meas- 
ure of  his  giving,  save  our  capacity  for  receiving. ' ' 
Rev.  H.  C.  G.  Moule,  who  is  likewise  considered 
no  mean  authority,  says  in  his  ' '  Outlines  of 
Christian  Doctrine  "  (p.  127) :  ''As  the  Messianic 
Age  approaches,  the  prophecies  indicate  a  com- 
ing universal  'effusion'  of  the  Spirit  ('upon 
allJlesJi,^  Joel  ii.  28).  The  universality  seems  to 
refer  to  an  extension  to  all  races  and  ranks  of 
men.  The  K'ew  Testament  (Acts  ii.  16-21) 
finds  this  fulfilled  at  Pentecost,  when  represen- 
tatives of  the  race  received  the  Gospel,  and  the 
universal  believing  Church  definitely  began  to 
be  under  the  power  of  the  Spirit.  True,  that 
beginning  has  a  future  in  which  all  the  ends  of 
the  world  shall  remember  and  turn  unto  the 
Lord  (Psalm  xxii.  27).  Limits  upon  the  work 
of  grace  at  one  period  are  no  proof  that  it  will 
be  always  limited ;  but  the  passages  here  in  ques- 
tion indicate  not  so  much  a  work  in  every  indi- 
vidual, as  a  world-wide  extension  of  the  Spirit's 
full  action  upon  individuals,  resulting  in  union 
with  Christ  in  his  Church  universal." 

Dr.  Wordsworth  says  that  the  pouring  of  the 


THE  SPIRIT  AND  THE  BELIEVER.  \\) 

Spirit  "upon  all  flesh"  received  its  fuHillinent 
in  tlie  person  of  the  Loid  Jesus  Christ,  because 
the  Word  was  made  flesh ;  and  tliat  now  this 
blessing  is  to  be  poured  through  hiui  upon  us; 
so,  as  he  received  the  fullness  of  the  Spiiit,  the 
fullness  of  the  Spirit  w^as  poured  down  on  him, 
and  through  him  upon  all  flesh  that  would 
take  it. 

AVith  these  three  great  authorities  before  us 
we  can  have  no  hesitation,  I  think,  in  under- 
standing that  the  term  "upon  all  flesh"  does 
not  mean  upon  each  individual  man,  but  is  to 
be  taken  generically  and  that  the  coming  down 
or  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  was  to  be  on 
human  flesh  as  a  wdiole.  The  question  is  then  : 
Has  this  promise  ever  received  any  distinct 
fulflllment? 

The  Lord  Jesus,  before  he  x)assed  away,  spoke 
in  John  xiv.,  of  sending  a  Person^  Whom  my 
Father  will  send  in  my  name"  (ver.  26);  and 
"Whom  I  will  send"'  "  (xv.  26).  In  Acts  ii., 
where  we  find  the  declaration  that  the  lu'ophecy 
has  been  fulfilled,  the  apostle  Peter,  quoting  the 
prophecy,  says  (ver.  17): — "It  shall  ccmie  to 
pass  in  the  last  days,  saith  God,  I  will  j^our 
out  of  my  Spirit  on  all  flesh."  In  ver.  33 
he  uses  the  same  word  in  the  Greek  : — "Being  by 
the  right  hand  of  God  exalted,  and  having 
received  of  the  Father  the  promise  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,   he  7iat7i  poured  out  this  which  ye  now 


20  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

see  and  hear."  So  that,  according  to  these 
prophecies,  according  to  the  promise  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  and  according  to  the  dechiration  of  Peter, 
we  shoiikl  say  that  there  has  been  once  for  all 
a  historical  f ulhllnient  in  the  Advent  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  as  a  Person,  exactly  as  there  ^Yas  in  the 
Advent  of  the  AYord  made  flesh  when  Jesus 
Christ  came  down  from  heaven  to  earth.  Such 
an  advent  we  all  would  acknowledge  to  have 
taken  place  on  that  solemn  day  of  Pentecost  on 
which  Peter  speaks.  Can  the^^irit  then  be  said 
to  be  constantly  ' '  descending  "  or  "  being 
poured  out,  "as  on  Pentecost  day  ? 

There  are  special  terms  used  concerning  the 
advent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  as  person.  When 
Jesus  Christ  came,  John  the  Baptist  spoke  of 
him  as  one  who  should  do  all  his  work  in  the 
jDOwer  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  in  connection 
with  our  Lord's  baptism  we  notice  some  remarka- 
ble facts.  Hi  Matt.  iii.  16  we  read  that,  as  Jesus 
came  out  of  the  water,  ' '  the  heavens  were 
opened,  and  he  saw  the  Spirit  of  God  descending 
like  a  dove  and  llgliUng  upon  Him.  Mark 
these  two  terms.  First  there  is  the  universal 
endowment  of  Christ  as  the  Second  Adam  by 
the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  from  heaven 
at  his  baptism.  Then  there  is  the  Indiindual 
enduement  of  the  Master  as  the  "  Son  of  Man" 
by  the  Holy  Ghost  lighting  u^Don  (or  coming 
upon)  him,    so  that  the  Sj)irit  claimed  him  for 


THE  SPIRIT  AXD  THE  BELIEVER.  21 

his  own  (see  the  same  thoughts   expressed   in 
John  i.   38).       Thus  we  have   an  liistorical  ful- 
lillment  in  Christ  at  his  baptism,  when  the  Holy 
Ghost   descended   and  lighted   upon   him;  and 
then  the  historical  fullillment   for   the    Church 
on  the  day  of  Pentecost  with  its  glorious  results. 
In   the   fulfillment  of  the  prophecy    that   the 
Spirit   should   be  poured  upon   all  llesh,  there 
would     appear   to  be    three    manifestations   of 
the  fact  that  the  descent  had  taken    place,  by 
the    use    of    the    term    "falling  upon,"  which 
occurs  only  three  times  in  the  Acts.     It  is  parti- 
tive  in    the    sense    that  it  comes   upon    three 
generic  classes   of    men;    but  absolute   in    the 
sense     that     these     three     classes     generically 
embrace  all  Hesh.      From  Acts  ii.  we  know  how 
the  Holy  Ghost  descended  upon  those  who  w^ere 
called  saints  in  Jerusalem,  but  here  this  term  is 
not  used.     In  chap.  xi.  15  the  Apostle  says,  con- 
cerning the  Gentiles:— ''The  Holy   Ghost  fell 
on  them  as  on  us  at  the  beginning."      There   is 
the    historical    declaration    of  the  Holy   Ghost 
having   descended    as   a   Person   at   Pentecost; 
and  thus    he    ''fell  upon"  the  Israelites:  for 
they   were    all    Israelites   wdio   then   knew   the 
Lord,  and  were  waiting  for  the  fulfillment  of  the 
promise. 

The  next  instance  in  the  Acts  is  where  the 
Spirit  fell  on  the  Samaritans,  who  were  a  half- 
breed  race,  a  mixture  of  Israel  with  the  Gentiles 


22  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

as  we  know  from  II.  Kings  xvii.  In  Acts  viii. 
we  are  told  that  Peter  and  John  went  down  to 
Samaria  :  ' '  Wlio,  when  they  were  come  down, 
prayed  for  them  that  they  might  receive  the 
Holy  Ghost  (for  as  yet  he  was  fallen  upon  none 
of  them).  Then  they  laid  their  hands  npon 
them,  and  they  received  the  Holy  Ghost."  He 
had  fallen  upon  Israel,  and  now  He  fell 
on  the  Samaritans.  In  Acts  x.  44,  w^e  have 
the  record  of  his  falling  on  the  Gentiles,  as 
already  mentioned  :  ' '  The  Holy  Ghost  fell  on 
all  them  which  heard  the  word,"  /.  e.,  the  cen- 
turion and  his  household. 

Thus,  we  have  these  remarkable  facts.  First, 
the  Holy  Ghost  descended  upon  the  Lord  Jesus 
as  representative  Man.  Then  Christ  went  back 
to  heaven,  and  at  Pentecost  the  Holy  Ghost 
descended  as  a  Person,  and  became  the  absolute 
gift  of  God  to  men.  There  is  a  generic  fulfillment 
of  God's  promise  upon  the  Israelite,  the  half- 
breed  and  the  pure  Gentile.  Thus  all  mankind 
are  included,  and  you  find  the  Holy  Ghost 
"poured  out,"  and  "descended"  or  "fallen 
upon  "  all  flesh  according  to  the  promises  con- 
tained in  the  Old  Testament  prophecy.  This,  as 
I  understand  it,  is  the  historical  fulfillment  of 
God's  blessed  intention  of  Love  and  Grace,  and 
is  Avhat  I  call  ' '  The  universal  endowment,  or 
gift  to  man,  of  God  TJte  Holy  Ghost." 

Consider  next,  the  individual  enduement, 


THE  SPIRIT  AXD  THE  BELIEVER.  23 

which  is  a  totally  distinct  thing.  The  first  fact 
is  one  in  which  Uod  acts  alone ;  man  has  no  part 
in  it  whatever.  In  this  second  stage  there  is 
partly  the  work  of  God,  and  partly  the  work  of 
man;  a  mixture  of  the  objective  and  the  subjec- 
tive. And  as  I  look  for  this  individual  endue- 
ment,  what  do  I  find  ?  That  when  a  man — any 
man,  no  matter  who — is  dealt  with  by  God,  the 
Spirit  conies  to  work  in  him  a  j)rocess  of  the 
conviction  of  sin,  of  righteousness,  and  of  judg- 
ment (John  xvi.  8).  The  moment  a  man  receives 
the  blessed  truth  that  God  was  in  Christ  saving 
him,  he  receives  regeneration ;  he  is  a  saved 
soul,  and  is  given  a  new  life.  At  that  moment 
there  is  in  him,  first,  the  old  natural  life  which 
remains  with  us  to  the  end  of  our  existence,  and 
secondly,  the  new  Spirit  life  which  God  the  Holy 
Ghost  has  bestowed.  What  has  the  man  now 
received?  Just  this  gift  of  God,  the  blessed  gift 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  in  him  the  life  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  moment  he  takes  these, 
he  is  endued  with  the  Holy  Spirit.  ''  H  any 
man  have  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of 
his."  Therefore,  all  the  Church  are  as  one  uj^on 
the  simple  fact  that  when  we  believe,  we  are 
partakers  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  What  some  of  us 
do  not  agree  upon  is  the  extent  of  the  income  that 
we  now  possess,  or  the  extent  to  which  we  ought 
to  enjoy  God's  absolute  gift. 

What  has  really  happened  to  the  regenerate? 


24  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

St.  Paul  says,  in  Gal.  iv.  6,  "God  7iat7i  sentfortli 
the  Spirit  of  his  Son  into  your  hearts  crying, 
'Abba,  Father.'"  "The  babe's  cry  and  the 
man's  cry  put  together,"  as  one  old  writer  ex- 
presses it.  Again,  St.  Paul  says  (II.  Tim.  i.  7)^ 
"  God  liatli  given  to  us  the  spirit  of  power,  of 
love,  and  of  a  sound  mind."  We  have,  more- 
over, as  he  says  in  Rom.  viii.  15,  "not  received 
the  spirit  of  bondage,  but  we  have  received  the 
Spirit  of  adoption,  whereby  we  cry  'Abba, 
Father.'  "  As  Christians,  we  are  not  "waiting 
for  the  promise";  but  we  have  received  the 
blessed  Spirit  of  liberty  and  of  power.  It  is 
ours  as  a  gift  from  God,  and  the  individual 
enduement  has  taken  place,  for  the  Holy  Spirit 
has  come  upon  us  at  the  moment  of  our  new 
birth. 

Notice  again,  how  it  Avas  with  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  In  Matt.  iii.  16,  we  are  told  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  descended  and  lighted  upon  him. 
Then  he  says  to  his  disciples  (Acts  i.  8).  "Ye 
shall  receive  x)ower  after  the  Holy  Ghost  is  come 
upon  you."  Again  (Acts  xix.  6),  "When 
Paul  laid  his  hands  upon  them  [the  disciples  at 
Ej^hesus]  the  Holy  Ghost  canie  upon  them." 
This  word  ' '  came  upon  "  is  a  totally  different 
word  from  that  translated  "  descended."  Christ 
received  the  Holy  Ghost  after  he  had  descended. 
The  Spirit  descended  first  and  then  came  upon 
Christ.     So  that  Avhile  God  has  given  the  gift  of 


THE  SPIRIT  AND  THE  BELIEVER.  25 

the  Holy  Ghost  as  a  Person,  there  comes  the 
l)artitive*^  distribution  on  each  incliviclual  soul 
who  is  made  alive  unto  God.  Each  true  believer 
has  the  Holy  Ghost  as  his  own  spiritual  income; 
but  alas !  he  knows  but  little  of  Him  yet. 

I  believe  that  I  have  noted  every  text  in  my 
Bible,  Avhere  the  Spirit  is  mentioned,  and  I  find 
(though  some  differ  with  me)  that,  wherever  tlie 
Person  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  mentioned,  you 
have  the  article  ''the,"  but  wherever  the  quali- 
ties or  gifts  of  the  Spirit  are  put  before  us, 
the  name  is  without  the  article.  You  will 
never  find  any  man,  not  even  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  who  is  described  as  being  (I  do  not  say 
that  the  Lord  Jesus  ^oas  not;  I  only  say  that  we 
do  not  read  of  him  being),  as  a  man,  full  of 
the  Person  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  i.e.,  where  the 
article  is  used,  which  denotes  the  Person,  and 
not  quality. 

In  Luke  iv.  1,  this  distinction  is  remarkably 
preserved:  ''Jesus,  being  full  of  (the)  Holy 
Ghost,  returned  from  Jordan,  and  was  led  by 
the  Spirit."  In  the  first  part  of  the  sentence 
there  is  no  article;  it  is  his  subjective  experi- 
ence. In  the  second  clause  it  is  an  objective 
fact,  an  historical  tvutXi— the  Holy  Ghost  led 
him  into  the  wilderness.  Of  course  I  do  not 
here  touch  upon  our  Lord's  divinity;  I  am 
simply  speaking  of  him  in  his  humanity,  and  as 
the  Word  of  God  speaks  of  him. 


26  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

When  we  are  born  into  tlie  kingdom  of  God, 
he  gives  to  each  of  us  tlie  Holy  Ghost,  but  we 
cannot  take  him  in;  he  is  far  beyond  our 
capacity.  Therefore,  all  that  we  enjoy  is  ' '  Holy 
Ghost;"  but  that  does  not  prove  that  we  have 
not  received,  as  a  gift  from  God,  our  whole 
income.  It  is  ours,  but  we  are  not  "of  full 
age,"  or  sufficiently  "perfect"  (Heb.  v.  4)  to 
be  able  to  enjoy  our  inheritance.  God  allows 
us  to  take  and  use  what  we  can  use  properly, 
but  we  are  such  babes  that  we  do  not  know  how 
to  use  the  income  that  he  waits  to  give.  The 
moment  we  are  perfected,  he  will  allow  us  to 
take  all  our  possession.  So  there  comes  the 
question, — How  much  can  we  enjoy  or  spend  of 
our  income  on  earth?  Certainly,  there  is  room 
here  for  much  self-reproach,  and  for  wider  and 
nobler  aspirations  for  the  future. 

III.  Having  seen  that  the  individual  indue- 
ment  takes  place  at  the  new  birth,  we  come  now 
to  consider  the  third  part  of  the  subject.  There 
is  a  most  solemn  distinction  between  the  general 
endowment,  or  the  individual  enduement,  by 
God,  with  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  man's 
PERSONAL  ENJOYMENT  of  the  gift  from  the 
moment  that  he  has  received  it. 

We  should,  perhaps,  best  explain  what  it  is  to 
be  "filled  with  the  Spirit,"  if  we  ask  ourselves 
what  the  Holy  Ghost  is  meant  to  be  to  those  who 
receive  him  at  all  from  God.     I  may  not  stay  to 


THE  SPIRIT  AXD  THE  BELIEVER. 


'Z( 


speak  much  of  his  absolute  personality  as  God. 
He  is  described  as  "the  Spirit  of  the  Father;  " 
"the  Spirit  of  the  Son;"  "the  Spirit  of  God;" 
"  the  Spirit  of  Christ."  But  when  we  speak  of 
his  qualities,  we  find  him  described  under  many 
ditferent  terms — "the  Spirit  of  power,  of  love, 
and  of  a  sound  mind,"  "  the  Spirit  of  wisdom," 
and  so  on.  In  Isaiah  xi.  2,  3,  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  is  spoken  of  as  having  a  sevenfold  power 
of  the  Spirit  upon  him ;  and  what  he  was  to 
Christ  as  man,  I  humbly  believe  he  is  meant  to 
be  to  us ;  that  is  to  say,  we  ought  to  know  him 
and  use  him,  as  the  Lord  Jesus  did,  up  to  the 
measure  of  the  possibility  in  which  faith  can 
enable  us  to  appropriate  and  enjoy  our  glorious 
possession. 

There  are  no  less  than  seven  figures  by  which 
the  Holy  Ghost  is  described  at  different  times 
in  the  Scriptures.  First,  he  is  compared  to  toater. 
At  the  very  outset  of  our  spiritual  career,  we 
are  buried  by  baptism  into  death ;  even  as  when 
mankind  were  buried  by  water  under  the  flood. 
But  as  God  put  Noah  and  his  family  into  the 
Ark,  which  is  a  type  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  so 
we  are  not  only  buried  in  but  "saved  by  water," 
when  "by  one  Spirit  (Greek  :  "  hi  one  Spirit  ") 
we  are  all  bai)tized  into  one  body. ' '  Again  he 
is  water,  that  he  may  be  to  us  as  a  refreshing 
draught,  to  cheer  us  in  the  struggle  and  toil  of 
daily  life.    He  is  spoken  of  also  asflre  to  purify 


28  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

and  destroy  whatever  is  evil  in  ns ;  also  to  illu- 
minate, invigorate  and  warm.  He  is  oil,  to 
soothe  and  comfort  and  to  give  us  peace.  He  is 
^chid,  to  permeate  every  part  of  our  being  by 
the  searching  and  cleansing  power  of  God. 
Then  we  come  to  a  solemn  thought.  He  is  a 
seal,  stami^ing  us  with  the  very  image  of  God, 
and  setting  Christ's  mark  upon  us,  as  he  claims 
us  for  his  own ;  for  "we,  beholding  as  in  a  glass 
the  glory  of  the  Lord,  are  changed  into  the  same 
image  from  glory  to  glory  even  as  by  the  Spirit 
of  the  Lord."  Again,  he  is  "  ichie  that  maketh 
glad  the  heart  of  man.''  And  lastly  you  read 
of  him  as  the  dove,  but  that  apparently  is  not 
for  us.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  nearly  all 
the  others  are  qualitative  or  partitive — what  we 
call  elements.  But  as  the  dove  he  came  upon 
Christ  alone  as  a  living  manifestation  and 
embodiment  of  the  Spirit  in  his  work — He  being 
the  true  representative  Man,  to  whom  for  us  the 
Sj^irit  was  given  without  measure  (John  iii.  34). 
Now  we,  as  men,  are  called  to  be  filled ;  and, 
in  order  that  we  may  be  so  filled,  the  question 
arises,  what  does  the  expression  mean  in  this 
particular  passage  ?  There  are  two  words  used 
with  regard  to  "filling.''  One  is  nXypjjs,  the 
adjective,  and  the  verb  akin  to  it.  TiXrjpoco 
which  expresses  the  normal,  or  constant  con- 
dition. But  there  is  another  word,  7t\i]a6ei3, 
which  signifies  an  abnormal  or  s]3ecial  condition, 


THE  SPIRIT  AND  THE  BEIJEVER.  29 

and  which  also  is  frequently  found  in  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles.  The  distinctive  use  of  these  several 
words  should  be  most  carefully  noted  in  all  the 
passages  where  they  occur.  I  think  that  it  is 
the  idea  conveyed  by  this  latter  word  of  which 
some  men  are  thinking  when  they  speak 
about  the  "  baptism  of  the  Spirit "  ;  little  recog- 
nizing that  tJiat  expression  is  absolutely 
un-Biblical,  as  it  never  occurs  once  in  the  whole 

Bible. 

There  are  live  passages  that  speak  of  Christ 
doing  his  great  work  of  baptism  with  regard  to 
the  Spirit.  The  first  is  Matthew  iii.  11,  and 
Mark  i.  8,  where  John  the  Baptist  in  preaching 
uses  the  words:  "He  shall  baptize  you  in''— 
not  i^/^Zt— "Holy  Ghost."  In  Luke  iii.  16, 
there  is  the  same  expression:  "In  Holy  Ghost 
and  in  lire."  In  John  i.  33,  we  read  again: 
"He  shall  baptize  In  Holy  Ghost."  Christ 
himself  makes  the  promise  once  :  "  Ye  shall  be 
baptized  in  Holy  Ghost  not  many  days  hence  " 
(Acts  i.  5).  There  are  these  five  promises;  but 
it  is  only  once  alluded  to  as  a  fact  accomplished. 
This  is  very  remarkable.  We  find  it  in  Acts  xi. 
15,  16,  where  the  Apostle  Peter  is  describing 
the  baptism  "in  Holy  Ghost."  In  everyone 
of  these  passages  we  observe  that  the  word 
''in"  is  used,  not  "with."  The  great  accom- 
plishment of  it  is  declared  by  Peter  to  have 
been  at  th*e  day  of  Pentecost;  there  is  a  fulfill- 


30  THE  VICTORTOUS  LIFE. 

ment  of  it  also  in  the  case  of  the  Gentiles,  upon 
whom  the  Holy  Ghost  descended.  So  that 
when  the  Holy  Ghost  descended  npon  all  flesh, 
the  baptism  of  humanity  generically  took  place. 
With  regard  to  the  individual,  this  should  take 
place  at  his  baptism.  In  his  "Yeni  Creator" 
(p.  20),  Mr.  Moule  says  that  baptism  is  the 
initial  act  by  wdiicli  a  man  is  introduced  into  the 
Church,  and  therefore  baptism  with  the  Spirit, 
the  same  as  baptism  wdth  water,  must  be  an  initial 
act.  The  moment  the  man  commences  to  live, 
he  is  baptized  in  the  Holy  Ghost. 

I  humbly  believe  that  there  is  no  after-baptism 
in  or  by  the  Holy  Ghost  for  any  man  from  the 
moment  he  has  become  a  child  of  God.  He 
simply  remains  in  the  element  into  which  he  was 
introduced,  and  it  is  his  own  fault  if  he  be  not 
j)erpetually  drinking  in  the  heavenly  element 
which  now  surrounds  him.  The  Holy  Ghost  is 
to  the  soul  wdiat  pure  air  is  to  the  body. 
"Open  thy  mouth  wide  and  I  will  hll  it."  At 
the  same  moment  that  spiritually  he  is  baptized 
into  the  death  of  Christ,  he  is  also  quickened  in 
or  by  the  Spirit.  That  is  what  St.  Paul  says  in 
I.  Corinthians  xii.  13 :  ''By  (or  in)  one  Sx3irit  w^e 
are  all  baptized  into  one  body."  He  goes  on  to 
say:  "And  have  all  been  made  to  drink  (into) 
one  Spirit. ' '  I  seldom  find  these  w^ords  spoken 
of  at  all.  The  Revised  Version  leaves  out  the 
w^ord  "into,"  and  we  read,  "have  all -been  made 


THE  SPIR  IT  A  XD  THE  BEL  IE  \  ^ER.  3 1 

to  drink  one  Spirit."  Whose  fault  is  it  if,  as 
the  beloved  of  the  Bridegroom,  we  have  refused 
to  drink  abundantly?  (Canticles  v.  1.)  We 
read  in  I.  Corinthians  x.,  that  the  Israelites 
' '  were  all  baptized  unto  Moses  in  the  cloud  and 
in  the  sea."  The  cloud  is  the  only  figure 
describing  the  Holy  Ghost  that  I  did  not  men- 
tion among  the  seven,  because  it  is  more  of  a 
type  than  a  figure.  It  represents  the  abiding 
presence  of  God.  All  Israel,  whether  spiritual 
or  carnal,  were  baptized,  because  they  were 
Israelites,  into  the  cloud  and  into  the  sea.  So 
St.  Paul  says  to  the  carnal  Corinthians:  "Ye 
were  all  baptized  into  (or  in)  one  Spirit,  and  are 
thus  made  into  one  body."  Therefore  this  bap- 
tism in  the  Spirit  is  true  for  all  believers,  how- 
ever carnal  or  babe-like  they  may  be. 

What  then  are  we  to  expect  if  we  cannot  again 
be  baptized  by  the  Spirit,  or  Avith  the  Spirit,  or 
even  in  the  Spirit?  The  only  real  question  now 
to  be  answered  is :  What  can  we  do  to  be  filled 
with  (or  in)  the  Spirit?  Mark  what  St.  Paul 
says  to  the  Corinthians  in  his  first  Epistle,  iii. 
16,  "  Know  ye  not  that  ye  are  the  temple  of  God, 
and  that  the  Spirit  of  God  dwelleth  in  you?" 
Again  (vi.  19),  "Know  ye  not  that  your  body 
is  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost  which  is  in  you, 
and  which  ye  have  of  God ;  and  ye  are  not  your 
own?  Therefore  glorify  God  in  your  body,  and 
in  your   spirit  which  are    his."       Once    again 


32  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

(II.  Cor.  vi.  16),  "  God  hath  said,  I  will  dwell  in 
them,  and  walk  in  them;  and  I  will  be  their 
God,  and  they  shall  be  my  people." 

The  Apostle  states  a  fact  in  all  these  passages 
— that  we  are  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
already,  and  have  the  Holy  Ghost  in  us.  I  need 
not  refer  you  to  such  texts  as  Rom.  v.  5,  ''  The 
love  of  God  is  shed  abroad  in  your  hearts  by  the 
Holy  Ghost  which  is  given  unto  us;"  or  II.  Cor. 
i.  22,  where  we  read  that  God  liatli  given  unto 
us  "the  earnest  of  the  Spirit,  in  our  hearts," 
II.  Cor.  V.  5,  "Who  also  liatli  given  onto  us 
the  earnest  of  the  Spirit,"  and  many  other 
texts,  showing  that  we  have  received  the  Holy 
Ghost  besides  having  been  baptized  into  one 
body  in  one  Spirit.  "  What  then  shall  we  do  to 
be  filled?"  What  did  they  do  in  the  days  of 
Hezekiah,  wdien  the  Temple  had  had  all  kinds  of 
iniquity  and  filth  brought  into  it?  The  priests 
came  and  purged  out  all  the  filth  that  they 
found,  and  cast  it  into  the  brook  Kidron. 
What  did  they  do  in  Nehemiah's  day,  when 
Tobiah  had  filled  God's  chambers  with  house- 
hold stuff?  The  prophet  cast  it  all  forth  out  of 
the  Lord's  house.  What  did  the  Lord  Jesus  do, 
when  the  temple  was  filled  with  money-changers 
and  sellers  of  merchandise  ?  He  made  a  scourge 
of  small  cords  and  drove  them  all  out. 

That  is  the  first  step  which  must  be  taken  by 
us.     The  moment  it  is  taken  I  humbly  believe 


THE  SPIRIT  AM)  THE  BELIEVER.  33 

that  the  Holy  Ghost  will  lush  into  our  hearts  as 
air  does  into  a  vaciiuni  when  opened;  or  as  water 
into  a  vessel  when  placed  under  a  fountain. 
Hezekiah  and  the  others  only  cast  out  all  that 
they  found ;  and  we  can  only  cast  out  all  tlie 
evil  that  we  find.  Therefore  we  are  told  to  wait 
in  prayer  for  the  gift  of  the  Spirit.  I  would 
rather  say :  Go  down  on  your  knees  and  say  like 
David,  ' '  Search  me,  O  God,  try  my  heart,  and 
see  if  there  be  any  wicked  way  in  me."  It  is 
not  God  who  has  not  given ;  it  is  you  who  have 
not  taken.  You  have  filled  the  Temple  of  God 
with  your  household  stufi",  and  have  put  the 
money  changers  and  divers  kinds  of  folly  into 
the  Father's  house;  therefore,  you  are  not 
filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost.  Let  a  man,  let  the 
Church,  go  down  before  God  and  say  :  "  Search 
me,  O  God."  When  he  has  searched  you,  he 
will  show  you  things  you  never  knew.  You  can 
onlj^  get  rid  of  what  you  find ;  and  God  gives  no 
further  than  man  can  take;  and  man  can  take 
only  w^hat  he  knows.  Let  us  go  to  God  and  tell 
him  of  all  our  sin  and  folly,  and  of  the  pride  that 
has  prevented  us  from  confessing  the  evil  things 
of  which  we  knew. 

We  may  all  rise  to  the  normal  condition  of 
the  Christian  if  we  are  yielded  to  God ;  but  if  he 
wants  some  special  service  from  us,  he  will  show 
us  that  there  is  something  wanting.  Then  it  is 
that  by  the  confession  of  our  need,  and  bv  the 


34  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

humble  prayer  of  faith  (as  in  the  case  of  the  dis- 
ciples in  Acts  iy.  31,  when  they  needed  boldness 
in  the  hour  of  trial)  we  may  find  ourselves  '  'filled' ' 
(TtXtjaOevTes)  in  that  department  of  our  being  in 
which  we  lacked  the  Spirit.  This  is  the  only 
form  in  which  a  sudden  accession  can  be  known, 
and  it  is  obtained  by  discovery  and  confession  of 
the  fact  that  in  that  department  of  our  being  we 
have  not  yielded  to  God. 

There  is  this  difference  between  the  old  dis- 
pensation and  the  new.  The  Old  Testament 
prophets  were  carried  and  ''borne  along"  by 
the  Spirit  (II.  Pet.  i.  21).  The  Spirit  was 
then  rather  acting  upon.,  than  iii^  those  whom 
he  used ;  and  some  people  think  that  if  they  had 
the  Spirit,  they  would  be  drmen  or  carried  along 
like  the  prophets  of  old.  But  he  does  not  so 
deal  with  men  to-day.  We  read  in  Ram.  viii. 
14  :  "As  many  as  are  led  by  the  Spirit;"  also  in 
Gal.  V.  18 :  God  only  leads  by  his  Spirit  that 
dwelleth  in  us ;  and  He  will  lead  us  just  so  far 
as  we  are  willing  to  go.  He  never  drives  now. 
The  Gospel  is  not  a  driving  dispensation;  you 
must  be  willing  to  be  led. 

But  what  is  to  be  the  result  of  it  all?  Notice 
first  at  the  negative  results  of  yielding  to  the 
Spirit.  Look  at  Gal.  v.  16:  ''Walk  in  the 
Sj)irit,  and  ye  shall  not  fulfill  the  lust  of  the 
flesh."  I  do  not  believe  that  that  ]3assage  is 
meant  to  be  clone  away  with   by  the  Christian. 


TIIK  srilllT  AXD  THE  BELTEVER.  35 

I  have  heard  it  said :  ''I  pity  St.  Paul  wIk^u  lie 
wrote  that;  lie  was  in  a  low,  grovel  I  iiiii,-  experi- 
ence." Nay,  brethren,  the  lust  of  the  Hesh  is 
in  all  men  to  the  last.  If  a  man  says  that  he  is 
delivered  from  the  flesh,  so  that  it  has  no  longer 
any  existence  in  his  experience,  he  is  contradict- 
ing God's  Holy  Word.  The  flesh  is  there,  and 
what  is  the  Christian  to  do?  "Walk  in  the 
Spirit,  and  ye  shall  not  fulfill  the  lust  of  the 
flesh."  The  flesh  is  lusting  against  the  Spirit, 
and  the  Spirit  against  the  flesh,  and  you  are 
between  the  two.  The  question  is  "To  which 
are  you  going  to  yield?  "  Walk  in  the  Spirit, 
because  willingly  led  of  the  Spirit;  and  stay 
there  all  the  days  of  your  life ;  if  you  do,  you 
will  never  fulfill  the  lust  of  the  flesh. 

But  what  are  to  be  the  jyositive  results  ?  In 
Gal.  V.  22  we  have  the  answer.  Do  not  speak 
of  W^  fruits  of  the  Spirit ;  it  is  the  fruit  of  the 
Spirit — nine  grapes  in  one  bunch.  It  is  all  of 
one  Spirit  who  desires  to  work  one  and  the  same 
blessed  fruit  in  us  all.  Here  are  nine  beautiful 
grapes,  and  they  all  relate  to  character,  rather 
than  to  conduct.  Perhaps  you  are  longing  for 
splendid  canduct;  wanting  to  go  and  do  some 
great  works.  God  wants  you  to  begin  Avith 
character.  The  Holy  Ghost  works  character; 
then  he  can  fill  you  for  service ;  and  assuredly 
God  wants  all  to  be  thus  blessedly  filled.  It  is 
no  man's  special  prerogative,  or  gift,  above  his 


36  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

fellows,  to  be  lilled  in  the  Spirit.  But  remem- 
ber that,  while  the  world  "resists  the  Holy 
Ghost,"  even  a  child  of  God  may  "grieve  "  and 
"qnench"   him. 

"Fill  the  water-pots  wdth  water,  and  bear 
nnto  the  governor  of  the  feast."  Such  is  the 
command  of  the  Lord  Jesus  to  his  servants. 
God  deals  with  yon  as  "servants"  to  the  end. 
The  servants  must  fill  the  water-pots ;  and  by 
God's  grace  take  out  everything  that  is  not  the 
pure  water  of  the  Spirit :  and  Avlien  you  have 
borne  out  to  the  governor  of  the  feast,  he  will 
say:  "Every  man  at  the  beginning  doth  set 
forth  good  wine,  and  when  men  have  well  drunk, 
then  that  which  is  worse ;  but  thou  hast  kej)t 
the  good  wine  until  now. ' '  The  water  of  God  is 
meant  to  be  iDoured  out  of  these  poor  earthen 
and  feeble  vessels  (John  vii.  33),  and  to  be 
turned  to  ' '  wine  that  cheers  the  heart  of  man, ' ' 
even  the  blessed  heavenly  wine — not  wine  of 
earth.  When  the  Lord  sees  that  the  water-pots 
are  filled  with  water,  he  will  begin  to  make  use 
of  us  and  to  pour  out  of  his  riches  all  over  the 
earth.  The  command  of  the  Lord  to  each  one  of 
us  is:  "Be  filled  in  the  Spirit,"  and  then 
"Yield  yourselves  unto  God." 


THE   SECOND    COMING    OF    OUR    LORD. 


"  The  secret  things  belong  unto  the  Lord  our  God,  hut  those 
things  which  are  revealed  belong  unto  us  and  unto  our  children 
forever.  " — Deuteronomy  xxix.  29. 

The  study  of  prophecy  is,  therefore,  profitable 
to  us,  especially  since  as  St.  Peter  writes :  "  We 
have  also  a  more  sure  word  of  prophecy  wliere- 
unto  ye  do  dwell  that  ye  take  heed  ;  .  .  . 
knowing  this  first  that  no  prophecy  of  the 
Scripture  is  of  any  private  interpretation.  For 
the  prophecy  came  not  in  old  time  by  the  will 
of  man ;  but  holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they 
were  moved  ((f>ep6/x€voij  borne  along)  by  the 
Holy  Ghost"  (II.  Peter  i.  19-21).  Again  he 
says:  ''Of  which  salvation  the  prophets  have 
inquired  and  searched  diligently; 
searching  what,  or  what  manner  of  time  the 
Spirit  of  Christ  which  was  in  them  did  sig- 
nify, when  it  testified  beforehand  the  sufferings 
of  Christ,  and  the  glory  that  is  to  follow.  Unto 
whom  it  was  revealed,  that  not  unto  themselves 
but  unto  us  they  did  minister  the  things  which 
are  now  reported  unto  you ;  .  .  .  which  things 
the  angels  desire  to  look  into  (I.  Peter  i.  10-12). 


38  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

From  these  passages  Ave  learn  that  we  have  a 
more  sure  word  of  prophecy  even  than  the  voice 
heard  upon  the  Mount,  and  that  the  prophets 
themselves  studied  to  understand  God's  revela- 
tion and  could  not.  We  are  even  better  off  than 
the  angels  in  our  understanding  of  God's  revealed 
prophecies. 

Now  look  at  Titus  ii.  11-13:  "For  the  grace 
of  God  that  bringeth  salvation  hath  appeared  to 
all  men  (or,  that  bringeth  salvation  to  all  men 
hath  appeared),  teaching  us  that,  denying  ungod- 
liness and  worldly  lusts  we  should  live  soberly, 
righteously  and  Godly,  in  this  present  world; 
Looking  for  that  blessed  hope,  and  the  glorious 
appearing  of  the  great  God  and  our  Saviour, 
Jesus  Christ. ' '  Here  we  notice  three  facts  stated  : 
(1.)  That  the  salvation  which  has  appeared  is  a 
universal  salvation.  (2.)  That  it  is  to  teach  men 
that  they  are  not  to  live  ungodly  or  lustful  lives 
but,  as  we  might  state  it,  are  to  live  soberly  in 
respect  to  themselves,  righteously  in  respect  to 
their  neighbors,  and  Godly  in  respect  to  God. 
(3.)  That  we  are  to  be  in  the  attitude  of  expect- 
ancy, ' '  looking  for  that  blessed  hope  and  the  glo- 
rious apxDearing  "  of  our  Lord.  The  three  things 
refer  to  three  periods — past  (the  appearance  of 
salvation) ;  j)resent  (teaching  us  how  to  live) ; 
and  future  (the  glorious  appearing  of  Christ). 

If  the  prophets  of  old  had  to  search  concern- 
ing the  truth  which  they  communicated,  may  we 


THE  SECOXD  COMTXG  OF  OUR  LORD.  39 

not  hope  to  gain  an  understanding  by  searching 
into  tlie  meaning  of  i)ro})hecy?  If  not,  why  lias 
prophecy  been  given  to  us  ? 

The  first  coming  of  our  Lord  has  now  })assed 
into  history  and  the  field  of  investigation  and 
speculation  is  therefore  limited.  The  second 
advent  is  still  in  the  realm  of  prophecy,  there- 
fore the  opportunity  for  study  is  almost  without 
bounds.  Some  think  that  a  man  who  studies 
prophecy  is  a  fool  because  he  can  arrive  at  no 
certain  conclusion  and  because,  as  they  say,  it 
makes  a  man  unj)ractical  and  visionary.  On  the 
contrar}^,  however,  we  find  that  students  of 
prophecy  are  more  practical,  more  powerful  and 
more  spiritual  than  those  who  ignore  it.  There 
are  fanatics  and  enthusiasts  who  preach  fool- 
ishness in  this  sphere,  but  that  is  true  in  any 
great  field  of  thought,  and  ought  not  to  prevent 
wholesome  study.  Again  we  are  charged  with 
studying  in  a  field  of  prophecy  where  there  are 
unfathomable  difficulties.  If,  however,  we  cannot 
come  to  an  understanding  of  these  predictions, 
why  are  these  prophecies  given  and  why  are  we 
urged  to  be  ready  and  looking  for  their  fulfill- 
ment. Still  further  it  is  said  that  it  is  futile  to 
teach  anything  concerning  this  subject  while 
there  is  so  much  diff'erence  of  opinion.  It  is  true 
that  there  is  much  that  will  never  be  settled, 
that  never  was  intended  to  be  settled,  especially 
as  to  dates,  for  then  men  would  no  longer   be 


40  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

expectant.  It  is  not  intended  that  we  should 
know  exact  details.  For  instance  we  may  not 
speak  dogmatically  as  to  the  ' '  time,  times,  and 
half  time,"  or  the  1290  days  mentioned  by  the 
prophet  Daniel. 

Although  I  have  for  thirty-five  years  studied 
the  subject  of  prophecy,  I  feel  to-day  like  a 
child  who  stands  on  the  seashore  looking  out 
upon  the  vast  expanse  of  waters,  utterly  unable 
to  fathom  the  great  depths  of  God's  revelation. 
Like  Canon  Hore,  the  older  I  grow  the  more 
dogmatic  I  become  on  the  great  doctrines  of 
man's  salvation,  and  the  less  dogmatic  as  to  the 
details  of  events  of  the  future.  I  am  only  dog- 
matic upon  the  facts  and  the  principles. 

Have  you  ever  considered  why  the  subject  of 
prophecy  should  engage  our  attention  ?  Is  there 
any  intelligent  being  capable  of  carrying  on 
Christian  life  without  reference  to  prophecy  ? 
Are  not  all  of  God's  x^romises  concerning  our 
future  really  prophecies  ?  A  man  who  calcu- 
lates with  reference  to  the  future  is  accounted  a 
wise  man ;  so  should  a  man  be  considered  wise 
who  studies  the  field  of  prophecy  concerning  the 
future,  which  should  guide  us  as  to  the  present. 
Moreover,  if  Christ  is  the  center  of  my  life, 
how  can  I  abstain  from  the  study  of  the  pro- 
phetic utterances  which  pertain  to  his  kingdom  ? 
The  world's  future  is  wrapped  up  in  prophecy, 
and  only  through  this  can  we  study  the  destiny 


THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  OUR  LORD.  41 

of  the  kingdom,  the  Church,  the  world,  or  of 
ourselves.  To  refuse  to  study  prophecy,  there- 
fore, is  to  be  wanting  in  the  si)iritual  intelligence 
and  hope  of  the  Christian. 

The  department  of  prophecy  which  we  now 
take  up  relates  especially  to  Christ,  the  Church, 
and  the  world.  There  are  three  general  schools 
of  thought  with  reference  to  the  interpretation 
of  the  predictions  relating  to  the  second  advent 
of  our  Lord — namely,  the  Pretorists,  the  His- 
toricists,  and  the  Futurists. 

The  Pretorists  hokl  that  all  that  was  written 
by  the  Old  and  New  Testament  prophets  was 
written  from  their  own  perview  or  immediate 
lield  of  observation,  and  are  prophetic  only  in  so 
far  as  any  keen-sighted  politician  might  foresee 
coming  events.  Some  even  say  that  every  word 
in  Revelation  was  fulfilled  before  the  end  of 
Nero's  reign.  When  on  one  occasion  in  Eng- 
land I  had  made  an  address  on  this  subject  before 
a  body  of  British  divines,  one  brother  who  held 
the  opposite  view  to  myself  arose  and  said  that 
he  had  made  a  careful  study  of  this  subject,  and 
that  more  consummate  foolishness  he  had  never 
listened  to  in  all  his  life;  that  anything  more 
fatuous,  foolish,  and  futile  could  not  be  imagined. 
After  a  few  more  similar  compliments  he  added 
that  there  was  not  one  single  line  in  the  whole 
apocalypse  that  was  not  fulfilled  before  the  year 
100  A.D.     I  said  somewhat  under  my  breath, 


42  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

' '  What  about  the  thousand  years  ?  "  He  con- 
tinued, "I  catch  from  Mr.  Peploe's  lips  one  of 
those  foolish  questions  which  only  shows  the 
ignorance  of  the  questioner  and  with  which  they 
are  accustomed  to  try  to  entrap  us.  I  am  fully 
prepared  to  answer  the  question — it  is  one  so 
foolish,  so  inane  that  we  simply  pass  it  by  as 
unworthy  of  notice." 

The  Historicists  say  that  all  of  Revelation,  at 
least  from  chax)ter  four  to  the  end,  has  been  ful- 
filled in  detail,  age  after  age,  at  various  stages  in 
the  world's  history.  They  say  that  we  stand 
somewhere  near  the  end  of  the  final  fulfillment. 
So  they  interiDret  the  messages  with  regard  to 
the  seven  churches,  saying  that  these  represent 
the  condition  of  the  church  at  successive  periods 
in  her  history. 

The  Futurists  regard  Revelation  iv.-xxii.  as  a 
vision  of  the  future ;  to  be  fulfilled  suddenly  and 
absolutely  at  the  time  of  Christ's  appearing. 
The  Old  Testament  predictions  are  taken  to 
apply  to  the  same  period  and  they  hold  that 
as  yet  we  have  not  entered  upon  any  of  the 
fulfillment. 

My  own  view  is  that  all  three  schools  have  in 
them  a  measure  of  truth,  and  are  intended  by 
God  to  find  a  field  for  study  in  these  prophecies. 
But  none  are  sufiicient,  although  I  believe  the 
Futurists  to  be  nearer  the  truth. 

The  great  division  on  this  subject  is  between  the 


THE  SECOND  COMrXQ  OE  OUR  LORD.  43 

pre-millenarlans  and  the  post-millenartans.  I 
have  no  sympathy  with  the  views  of  tlie  post-mil- 
lenarians,  but  am  a  strong  ])eliever  in  tliei)re-niil- 
lennial  advent  of  our  Lord.  This  view  is  that 
Christ  will  appear  in  the  air,  take  to  himself  one 
class  of  his  saints — it  is  not  certain  what  the 
dividing  line  will  be — and  is  then  to  reign  on  or 
over  the  earth;  it  is  not  clear  which,  though 
probably  over,  since  it  would  be  difficult  to  local- 
ize Jesus  in  an  earthly  Jerusalem  so  that  every 
eye  might  see  him  and  worship  him.  I  do  not 
wish  to  speak  dogmatically,  for  prophecy  is  an 
humbling  study.  I  only  wish  to  lead  you  to  a 
closer  study,  to  be  less  dognuitic  as  to  details, 
and  more  positive  as  to  events.  At  any  rate 
Christ  will  come  in  the  air  and  10 ill  call  certain 
or  all  of  his  people  to  himself. 

In  order  clearly  to  understand  these  prophe- 
cies a  knowledge  of  the  Greek  is  very  essential. 
Paul  uses  live  or  six  different  terms  to  express 
the  expectant  attitude  of  Christians  towards  the 
coming  of  Christ.  In  Titus  ii.  13,  it  is  npos- 
SeKo^evoi^  ^'looking  for;"  in  Romans  viii.  23, 
aneKdtxofAai,  "waiting  for;  "  I.  Thessalonians  i. 
10,  are/Atveiv,  ''to  wait  for,"  "expect."  These 
various  terms  all  involve  the  same  general  idea 
in  different  aspects — "  reaching  out  and  longing 
for, "  "  tarrying  patiently  till , "  "  waiting  to  re- 
ceive with  soul  upturned" — various  altitudes 
all  teaching  us   to  be  alwavs  readv  and  waiting. 


44  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

Why  is  it  said  tliat  Christ  loill  come  in  the 
air  f  Paul  writes  to  tlie  Tliessalonians  in  tlie 
first  epistle  that  tliose  wlio  were  alive  at  his 
coining  should  not  go  before  those  that  were 
asleep,  but  that  they  were  to  be  caught  up 
together;  therefore,  they  were  to  solace  one 
another  and  to  be  stimulated  to  greater  activity. 

In  the  air,  but  lolienf  Do  we  look  for  Christ's 
coming  for  his  saints  before  the  great  tribula- 
tion, or  after  ?  Christ  says  (Luke  xxi.  36), 
"Watch  ye  therefore,  and  pray  always,  that 
ye  may  be  accounted  worthy  to  escape  all  these 
things  that  shall  come  to  pass,  and  to  stand 
before  the  Son  of  man ; ' '  yet  in  another  i^lace  he 
says  (Matt.  xxiv.  22) :  ' '  Except  those  days  be 
shortened,  there  should  no  fiesh  be  saved;  but 
for  the  elect's  sake  those  days  shall  be  short- 
ened." Will  the  elect  then  go  through  this 
tribulation  which  is  to  occur  in  the  latter  days? 
If  so,  who  then  can  escape  it?  The  "elect" 
cannot  here  refer  only  to  those  on  earth,  nor  can 
it  refer  to  all  the  elect,  for  many  of  the  elect 
have  died.  Then  for  whom  of  the  elect  will  the 
days  be  shortened?  Some  of  the  elect  must  pass 
through  the  trial,  and  some  will  escape,  I  think. 

Let  me  suggest  (only  as  a  suggestion)  that  you 
study  in  this  connection  the  parable  of  the  ten 
virgins  (Matt.  xxv.  1-13) .  The  ten  were  all  virgins 
and  w^ere  waiting  for  the  bridegroom,  but  only 
five  of   them  had  sufficient  oil.     The   five  wise 


THE  SECOXD  COMrXG  OF  OUR  LORD.  45 

entered  to  the  iiiamage  feast  while  the  five  foolish 
were  excluded.  Does  not  this  mean  that  all  the  ten 
were  saints  in  one  sense,  and  not  that  five  were 
redeemed  and  five  sinners,  five  saved  and  five 
eternally  lost?  I  humbly  believe  that  all 
were  accepted  in  the  Beloved.  The  five  wise  are 
described  as  comparatively  ready  (none  were 
really  ready)  and  had  oil — meaning  stores  of  grace, 
the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  other  five  had 
no  oil  except  a  little  in  their  lamps  and  said, 
"Our  lamps — not  are  gone  out  but — are  going 
oiity  Our  lamps  never  go  out  if  we  are  the 
children  of  God.  These  foolish  virgins  were  in 
peril  of  not  being  able  to  folloAv  the  bridegroom 
because  of  extinguished  lights,  therefore  are  bid- 
den to  go  and  buy  oil.  Would  the  other  ^\% 
have  refused  them  aid,  and,  in  mocking  contempt, 
have  told  them  to  go  and  buy  for  themselves, 
if  they  had  been  the  children  of  the  world  and 
had  been  in  danger  of  eternal  exclusion  from  the 
kingdom  ?  "I  never  knew  you  "  is  a  marriage 
term,  and  here  means  that  Christ  could  not 
accept  them  and  receive  them  into  the  feast, 
but  that  they  must  be  restored  to  grace  by  under- 
going tribulation. 

It  seems  to  me  that  we  might  say  of  the 
church  to-day,  that  one-half  (I  wish  it  were 
as  large  a  proportion  as  that)  are  ready  to  go 
into  the  marriage  feast  of  the  Lamb,  and  that 
half,  though  among  the  elect,  must  pass  through 


46  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

the  tribulation  of  the  latter  days.  For  their 
sakes  the  days  are  to  be  shortened.  The  trial 
will  come  ujion  them  at  sore  cost  to  their  com- 
fort, but  they  will  be  accepted  at  last.  The  Lord 
comes  and  takes  the  ready  and  waiting  part  of 
the  church  into  the  marriage  feast  in  the  air, 
away  from  the  world  where  they  may  learn  to 
know  each  other — as  a  bridal  couple  to-day  leave 
their  parents  and  go  into  seclusion,  that  each 
may  learn  to  know  and  trust  the  other.  If 
then  the  Lord  is  to  come,  and  lift  his  waiting 
church  into  the  air  before  the  great  tribulation, 
we  must  look  at  the  signs  of  the  times  to  dis- 
cover whether  or  not  our  redemx)tion  draweth 
nigh — the  redemption  for  which  our  Lord  is 
waiting ; — so  shall  we  be  ever  with  the  Lord. 

This  view  of  the  coming  of  our  Lord  enables 
me  to  believe  that  the  dull,  sleepy  Christians 
who  are  members  of  the  body  of  Christ  as  believ- 
ers, and  who  are  yet  grinding  along  without  real 
hope  and  joy,  and  are  not  ready  and  waiting  to 
go,  are  nevertheless  not  to  be  lost.  The  germ  of 
truth  is  in  them,  and  while  "one  shall  be  taken 
and  the  other  left, ' '  it  will  be  for  trial  and  not 
for  eternal  destruction.  Apparently  they  shall 
be  in  darkness  without  the  presence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  (their  oil);  but  having  been  ripened  by 
tribulation  they  shall  become  ready,  and  at  the 
descent  of  our  Lord,  at  the  close  of  the  feast,  and 
the  retirement  into  air  (we  can't  say  for  Iioav  long. 


THE  SECOND  COMIXG  OF  OUR  LORD.  47 

some  say  three  and  a  lialf  years),  will  be  received 
by  him  when  he  shall  come  with  all  his  saints,  and 
shall  stand  on  the  Mount  of  Olives  (Zech- 
ariah  xiv.  5).  Then  comes  the  thousand  years' 
reigu,  the  millennium,  when  Christ  will  have  his 
throne  on  or  over  tlie  earth,  and  during-  wliich 
time  the  world  will  have  the  last  o^^i^ort unity  to 
accept  of  Christ. 

Mankind  has  had  in  the  past  six  thousand 
years  many  opportunities  to  turn  to  God;  there 
has  been  various  dispensations  of  grace.  Man 
was  first  tried  in  Eden  surrounded  by  x)urity  and 
in  communion  with  God.  He  failed  and  fell. 
Then  came  the  promises  of  God  to  redeem  men 
before  the  flood ;  then  the  covenant  with  Abra- 
ham ;  then  the  law  under  Moses ;  then  God  sent 
his  Son  Jesus  Christ  to  die  and  to  bring  men  the 
oifer  of  salvation.  All  of  these  have  failed  to 
save  the  majority  of  mankind.  There  remains 
but  one  w^ay  for  God  to  draw  men  (I  say  it  rev- 
erently), and  that  is  by  a  living,  reigning,  visible 
Christ  over  the  earth,  and  Satan  bound.  Also 
when  the  Lord  returns  all  Israel,  as  a  nation, 
shall  "look  on  hiiu  whom  they  pierced  "  and 
be  saved;  they  shall  lead  the  nations  of  the  earth 
in  seeking  the  Lord  (Isaiah  Iv.  and  Ivi.,  and 
Zechariah  xiv.),  and  shall  become  such  preach- 
ers of  the  Gospel  as  have  never  been  known. 

In  the  thousand  yea  is  coiues  mankind's  last 
oj)portunity.     The  earth  will  continue  to) have 


48  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

seed  time  and  harvest ;  men  will  die  (the  child  shall 
die  at  a  hundred  years);  still  some  will  reject 
Christ  and  die  in  their  sins.  At  the  end  Satan 
will  be  loosed  for  a  season  to  see  if  men  will 
turn  away  from  serving  God,  or  if  they  have 
become  true  subjects  of  the  Lord  (Revelation 
XX.).  Then  Satan  prex)ares  to  fight  with  the 
world  against  God,  but  there  is  no  battle.  The 
fire  of  God  consumes  the  Devil's  host,  and  Satan 
himself  is  finally  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire.  God 
now  sets  nj)  his  judgment  seat,  at  Avhich  all  the 
dead  stand  before  God  to  be  judged  according  to 
their  works;  nations  are  brought  up  for  judg- 
ment ;  those  condemned  to  the  second  death  are 
sent  into  everlasting  fire.  After  this  comes  the 
voice  from  heaven,  ' '  Behold,  I  make  all  things 
new" — not  made  anew,  but  renewed.  The 
universe  is  purged  by  fire  as  in  former  days  it 
had  been  purged  by  water,  and  the  earth 
becomes  the  tabernacle  of  the  Lord;  the  new 
Jerusalem  descends  out  of  heaven  having  '^  tJie 
glory  of  the  God  "  —  a  remarkable  expression 
found  nowhere  else  and  signifying  the  perfection 
of  God's  glory.  Then  God  becomes  all  and  in  all 
as  Christ  had  been,  who  now  gives  up  the  king- 
dom to  his  Father. 

ISTow  comes  the  trial  of  the  saints  according 
to  their  use  of  the  talents  entrusted  to  them 
(Matthew  xxv.  20-30).  After  this  the  Son  of 
Man  in  his  glory  judges    the   nations   of  the 


THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  OUR  LORD.  49 

earth  not  according  to  tlieir  use  of  gifts,  but 
according  to  their  works.  Remember  that  there 
are  few,  if  any  cases  where,  in  judgment,  much  is 
made  of  shis  committed^  for  they  are  purged 
away  by  the  blood  of  Christ;  men  are  judged 
because  of  what  they  have  not  done^  not  because 
of  what  they  have  done.  Men  are  rejected  not 
because  of  impotence.  As  a  Christian  said  on 
his  death  bed,  when  asked  by  a  friend  Avho  saw 
him  weeping,  if  he  was  afraid  to  die,  "  Oh,  no,  I 
am  not  afraid,  but  I  am  so  ashamed  to  dle^  for  I 
have  done  so  little  for  my  Lord."  What  have 
you  done  for  Him  in  return  for  what  He  has 
done  for  you  ?  How  many  of  you  could  say  with 
peaceful  and  rejoicing  hearts,  "Even  so  come 
Lord  Jesus." 

Now,  what  are  the  reasons  for  thinking  that 
the  glorious  event  of  Christ's  coming  may  be 
near  at  hand  ?  How  about  ' '  wars  and  rumors  of 
wars?"  There  are  wars  in  many  parts  of  the 
world,  but  it  is  especially  noticeable  that  all 
EurojDe  is  arming  herself  seemingly  pre^^aring 
herself  for  a  great  battle.  "Earthquakes  in 
divers  places. "  I  have  no  less  an  authority  than 
Mr.  Gladstone  for  saying  that  the  earthquakes 
of  the  past  two  thousand  years  have  been  care- 
fully chronicled,  and  that  in  the  last  half  cen- 
tury there  have  been  more  than  during  the  pre- 
vious two  thousand  years.  "Men's  hearts 
failing   them   for    fear."     It  is  the   opinion   of 


60  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

the  most  prominent  men  of  the  day  that  never 
was  there  so  mnch  general  anxiety  as  to  what 
will  be  the  outcome  of  the  i3resent  social  and 
political  conditions.  There  was  never  so  critical 
a  period  in  history.  ' '  The  Gospel  shall  be 
preached  in  all  the  world  as  a  witness."  This 
has  certainly  been  fulfilled  as  never  before  in 
the  history  of  the  world.  It  can  never  be  real- 
ized in  its  fullest  sense  seemingly,  for,  as  has 
been  frequently  calculated,  the  natural  growth 
of  heathen  populations  is  more  rapid  than  their 
conversion. 

There  seems  to  be,  then,  an  agreement  that 
the  preliminary  events  have  taken  X3lace  as  far 
as  is  necessary  to  a  fulfillment  of  the  predictions. 
All  indicates  that  we  are  now  about  at  a  great 
crisis  in  the  history  of  the  Avorld. 

In  addition  to  this  we  read  in  Ezekiel  xxxviii, 
and  xxxix.  that  "  Gog,  of  the  land  of  Magog,  the 
prince  of  Rosh,  Meshech  and  Tubal  (which  have 
been  lately  discovered  in  the  Russian  archives  to 
be  names  for  Russia,  Moscow,  and  Tobalsk,  and 
by  which  name  the  Czar  is  called)  shall  come  out 
of  the  north  and  shall  as  a  cloud  cover  the  land  " 
(of  Israel).  Genesis  x.  shows  that  Magog  is  a 
descendant  of  Japheth,  and  Revelation  xx.  con- 
nects Gog  and  Magog  with  the  last  days  and 
destruction  by  the  fire  of  God.  It  may  not  be 
generally  known,  but  it  is  true,  that  Russia  is 
now  seeking    to    capture    Palestine  by   estab- 


THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  OUR  LORD.  51 

lishing  throughout  that  country  what  are  osten- 
sibly monasteries,  but  are  in  reality  garrisons  of 
armed  soldiers,  who  are  there  witli  the  X)uri)ose 
of  rising  at  a  moment's  notice  to  capture  the 
Holy  City  and  forever  exclude  the  hated  Turk. 
This  seems  to  point  to  a  fulfillment  of  Ezekiel 
xxxviii.  and  xxxix.,  to  be  followed  by  what 
is  prophesied  in  Zechariah  xiv-.,  when  there  is 
foretold  the  siege  of  Jerusalem,  and  after  it  has 
been  two-thirds  taken  the  Lord  descends  upon 
the  Mount  of  Olives  and  there  follows  the  battle 
of  Armegeddon.  Palestine  is  cleared  of  its 
enemies ;  Israel  becomes  God's  servants,  and  the 
millennial  reign  begins. 

We  seem,  then,  to  be  at  a  crisis  in  history.  I 
can  see  no  great  reason  why  we  should  not  live  to 
see  the  Lord  come.  Oh,  blessed  moment;  oh, 
glorious  i^rivilege!  ''Seeing  we  look  for  such 
things,  what  manner  of  men  ought  we  to  be?" 
Oh,  noblest  privilege  that  I  might  be  the  man  to 
bring  the  last  soul  to  complete  the  body  of 
Christ!  And  the  instant  that  living  stone  is 
brought  into  place  and  the  whole  completed,  we 
shall  hear  the  shout,  "Grace,  grace,"  and  the 
Lord  will  come.  Are  you  ready?  Are  you  liv- 
ing, looking  forward,  hastening  unto  the  day  of 
the  Lord? 


WHAT  GOD  HATH  CLEANSED. 


But  the  voice  answered  me  again  from  heaven,  What  God  hath 
cleansed,  call  not  thou  common. — Acts  xi.  9. 

What  voice  it  was  that  gave  utterance  to  these 
words,  we  are  not  told  either  in  the  tenth  chap- 
ter when  the  vision  is  first  recorded,  or  in  the 
eleventh  chaiDter,  where  Peter  describes  it  to 
those  of  the  circumcision  in  Jiidea.  But  Peter 
in  both  places  describes  himself  as  saying,  "Not 
so,  Lord,"  thus  seeming  to  recognize  the  voice  of 
Jesus,  with  wdiom  he  had  been  so  long  and  inti- 
mately associated  a  few  years  before,  and  whose 
will  he  was  now  seeking  to  carry  out. 

What  a  beautiful  instance  we  have  here  of  the 
Saviour  speaking  from  heaven.  Therefore  it  has 
peculiar  force.  In  the  first  place  it  testifies  as  to 
what  Jesus  had  done  :  "what  God  hath  cleansed f^ 
and  in  the  second  place  speaks  to  those  whom  he 
has  cleansed  and  says,  that  from  the  time  of 
their  cleansing  nothing  can  henceforth  make 
them  common  or  unclean.  Jesus,  who  had  per- 
formed the  wonderful  act  of  cleansing,  is  the  one 


WHAT  GOD  HATH  CLEANSED.  53 

most  qualilied  to  speak  from  lieaven  and  to  say 
this.  Peter  therefore  says  that  God  had  showed 
him  this  blessed  truth,  that  all  may  be  saved 
because  all  are  cleansed. 

There  is  a  dispensational  truth  in  this  utter- 
ance by  Christ.  It  is  a  beautiful  truth  that  God 
no  longer  distinguishes  between  Israel  and  the 
Gentiles,  and  now  for  the  first  time  Peter,  the 
one  who  had  always  been  of  the  most  strict  and 
exclusive  of  the  Hebrews,  was  instructed  in  the 
universal  character  of  the  Gospel.  Therefore 
Peter  no  longer  hesitated  when  he  knew  that  it 
was  God's  will  that  all  men  should  be  saved.  He 
was  a  humble  learner  at  Jehus'  feet.  It  is  a 
wonderful  lesson  for  all  men  to  learn.  Not  every 
man  can  break  down  the  walls  of  prejudice 
which  have  all  his  lifetime  been  hedging  him 
about.  Peter  had  never  dreamed  that  God  was 
willing  to  let  every  man  come  unto  the  king- 
dom, so  he  had  to  have  his  eyes  opened. 

It  is  a  triumph  of  grace  to  accept  new  truth 
and  to  live  by  it.  God  taught  Peter  that  now 
all  the  barriers  were  broken  down,  and  men  were 
to  know  that  salvation  was  for  all ;  it  was  to  be 
preached  to  men  on  earth  and  in  heaven,  and  in 
hades— if  that  is  what  Peter  means  in  his  first 
epistle  when  he  says  that  Jesus  went  to  preach 
to  the  spirits  under  guard.  Whole  nations  were 
to  see  that  God's  love  was  bestowed  for  them. 
This  is  a  reproach  to  us,  in  reminding  us  how  little 


54  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

we  have    done  to  fullill  tlie    last  command  of 
Christ. 

But  there  is  a  deeper  trnth  here.  Let  ns  first 
consider  the  thought  of  the  vessel  let  down  from 
heaven.  In  it  were  all  kinds  of  beasts  of  the 
earth,  and  creeping  things,  and  four-footed 
beasts,  and  fowls  of  the  air.  It  seems  to  be  a 
general  summary  intended  to  represent  the  whole 
creation,  and  is  symbolical  of  man  in  his  totality 
as  divided  into  nations,  into  families,  into  house- 
holds, and  also  as  symbolizing  each  individual 
considered  in  the  many  departments  and  char- 
acteristics of  his  being.  Look  at  it.  You  see 
there  a  mass  of  living  animals  of  all  kinds  and 
descriptions.  The  sheet  is  full  of  striking  dis- 
tinctions and  great  contrasts.  There  is  the 
proud  eagle  and  the  crawling  worm,  the  mighty 
elephant  and  the  loathsome  toad.  All  kinds, 
from  the  highest  to  the  lowest  are  here  in  one 
sheet,  struggling  and  striving  for  the  mastery. 
They  are  all  thus  brought  together  for  a  purpose. 
What  a  picture  of  mankind;  and  of  man's  own 
individual  nature !  .  Men  differ  from  each  other 
remarkably  and  yet  all  are  bound  together  with- 
out distinction,  in  one  sheet  for  the  purpose  of 
God.  Each  man  has  also  within  him  dijfferent 
instincts,  qualities  and  aspirations;  at  one  time 
we  have  the  highest  aspirations,  and  at  another 
we  are  fit  to  be  the  comi^anious  of  the  devil. 
There  are  some  noble  and  some  degrading  pas- 


WHAT  GOD  IIATII  CLEANSED.  55 

sions  all  present  in  one  man,  and  all  nien  in  one 
sheet.  Therefore  all  kinds  of  men  are  to  receive 
the  blessing  of  the  Gospel. 

Notice  also  that  the  sheet  is  tied,  literally 
^'knit  together,"  at  the  fonr  corners.  These 
men  are  massed  together  so  as  not  to  escape  from 
contact  with  their  fellows.  Of  course,  the  most 
powerful  rise  to  the  top  just  as  they  do  in  the 
world.  Imagine  the  struggle  for  life  in  that 
sheet  tied  at  the  four  corners !  It  is  God's 
picture  of  man  and  humanity.  They  are  brought 
together  to  show  that  all  are  in  one  place  and  in 
one  condition.  The  four  corners  to  stand  for  the 
four  quarters  of  the  globe — this  sheet  includes 
the  whole  world. 

What  is  the  purj^ose  of  thus  bringing  together 
all  these  nations,  these  congregations,  these  house- 
holds, these  individual  men  into  one  sheet?  It 
is  that  they  may  learn  to  know  God  and  to 
realize  their  own  impotence  and  degradation; 
that  they  may  know  that  all  are  equal  in  the 
sight  of  God.  There  is  no  difference,  all  hav 
sinned  and  come  short — the  highest  as  well  as 
the  lowest,  as  Paul  says  in  Romans :  There  is 
no  ground  for  separation ;  all  are  massed  in 
together  in  a  hopeless  condition,  and  their 
mouths  are  stopped.  God  has  shut  them  uj)  in 
their  unbelief  and  there  is  no  escape — all  are  in 
one  condition,  in  one  jjosition — all  are  dead. 
This  applies  to  the  most  sanctified  and  to  the  most 


::j 


56  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

depraved  who  are  trusting  in  their  own  efforts. 
Some  are  noble  and  some  are  degraded,  but  all 
are  shut  up  to  judgment.  This  is  humanity  in 
its  natural  state. 

What  then  is  the  purpose  of  God  in  thus  shut- 
ting them  up?  After  the  vision  of  man  and 
nature  comes  the  revelation  of  God's  work  of 
grace.  The  voice  says  to  Peter :  ' '  What  God 
hath  cleansed" — those  whom  he  has  pardoned, 
whom  he  has   elected,    whom  he  has   selected. 

I  We  know  nothing  of  a  universalism  taught  by 
the  Word  of  God.  There  is  a  mass  of  mankind 
who  reject  Christ  that  will  have  to  suffer;  but 
what  is  clearly  revealed  here  is  that  all  humanity 
is  represented  in  that  vessel,  and  all  mankind, 
nationally  and  individually,  is  shut  up  in  a  help- 
less condition.  Then  the  words,  "What  God 
hath  cleansed  ' '  must  have  their  full  force.  They 
mean  the  whole  contents  of  the  sheet.     It  is  all 

I  cleansed.     God  hath  cleansed  the  Avhole  human 

[race.     And  men  still  perish?     Yes. 

After  God  had  created  the  earth  and  the 
heavens  and  had  put  man  into  the  garden  of 
Eden,  He  pronounced  himself  satisfied.  He  saw 
that  it  was  all  very  good.  But  Satan  entered 
the  garden  and  from  that  time  humanity  was 
separated  from  God.  Separation  involves  death 
and  brings  ruin  and  corruption.  Thi^  condition 
of  things  would  have  proceeded  indefinitely  and 
all   mankind  would  have   perished  had   it   not 


WHAT  GOD  IIATII  CLEANSED.  57 

been  for  the  mercy  of  God.  If  in  one  man's  fall 
all  the  human  race  was  coiTui)te(l,  ruined  and 
lost,  if  by  one  man  death  came  upon  all,  is  there 
not  gronnd  for  the  skeptic's  charge  that  God  is 
responsible  for  sin  in  us?  As  one  man  said  to 
me,  "If  I'm  sinful,  God  made  me  and  he's 
responsible  for  it,  not  I.  Why  didn't  he  make 
me  holy  if  he  wanted  me  to  be  holy?"  Because 
man  was  ruined  shall  God  be  accused  of  injust- 
ice? God  must  not  only  be  the  justiher  of  men, 
he  must  be  just  as  well.  Man  has  sinned  and 
shall  God  be  therefore  unjust,  must  he  not  make 
a  satisfaction  for  his  broken  law  as  well  as  pro- 
vide away  of  deliverance  from  sin? 

Therefore  it  was  necessary  that  God  should 
make,  in  the  sacrifice  of  his  own  Son,  a  provision 
equal  to  the  need,  and  prevailing  over  it.  Paul 
teaches  this  in  Romans  v.  The  five  "much 
mores ' '  in  that  chapter  show  that  God  was  equal 
to  the  occasion  and,  in  Jesus  Christ,  made  for 
man's  justification  a  provision  absolute,  perfect 
and  everlasting.  Thus  the  words  to  Peter  were 
justifiable.  The  Greek  indicates  a  single  act  of 
cleansing — once  and  for  all.  If  in  x^dam's  fall 
and  ruin  all  were  included,  in  Christ  must  not 
all  also  be  included?  In  Christ  all  died  (II. 
Corinthians,  v.  14),  therefore  the  debt  is  paid. 

Justification  can  now  take  place  and  the  law  be 
satisfied  and  God  justified.  "As  in  Adain^  all 
died,  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive."     But 


58  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

the  x)rovision  of  inclusion  is  not  mere  satisfaction 
of  tlie  law.  In  one  sense  all  are  alive  if  they  will 
only  accept  the  provision  made  for  them.  How 
then  can  man  perish?  If  all  are  cleansed  what 
need  is  there  of  the  Gospel?  Just  at  this  point 
notice  that  Peter  is  taught  to  go  and  preach  to 
the  Gentiles.  He  is  told  to  go  not  to  a  heathen 
outcast,  but  to  a  man  just  and  holy  before  God 
as  far  as  his  knowledge  went.  Yet  to  him,  the 
Gospel  of  the  remission  of  sins  in  the  name  of 
Jesus  must  be  preached,  as  Avell  as  to  the  vilest 
outcast. 

There  is  an  awful  responsibility  in  the  Gospel. 
It  damns  a  man  if  he  will  not  accept  it.  God 
makes  provision  for  a  free  pardon,  but  what  if 
you  decline  to  take  it.  Here  it  is — God  holds  it 
out  to  you — take  it — if  you  do  not  there  are 
awful  consequences  and  the  fault  is  yours,  not 
God's.  If  you  turn  your  back  on  God  you  set 
your  face  toward  the  devil.  If  the  Gospel  needed 
to  be  preached  to  Cornelius,  then  a  man's  own 
righteousness  will  not  save  him  ;  Cornelius  must 
close  with  God's  bargain.  He  must  take  God's 
gift;  that  was  all  he  had  to  do  and  all  was 
right. 

About  eighteen  years  ago,  shortly  after  I  had 
gone  to  London,  I  was  called  upon  to  visit  a 
dying  man  who  had  been  told  that  he  was  at  the 
gates  of  death.  His  wife,  who  was  one  of  those 
emotional  Christians  who  always  make  a  great 


WHAT  GOD  HATH  CLEANSED.  59 

(leal  of  fcdincj  saved,  met  me  at  the  door  and 
said  to  me  before  I  went  in  tliat  her  liusband 
had  been  an  infidel  for  many  years,  and  that  she 
was  afraid  he  would  not  receive  anytliing  from 
my  lips.  She  hoped  that  he  would,  not  be  rude  to 
me,  but  he  was  a  confirmed  unl)eliever  and 
scoffer.  I  asked  her  not  to  detain  me  then,  but 
to  let  me  go  to  his  bedside. 

I  went  into  the  room  and  found  him  to  be  a 
great,  powerfully  built  man  of  about  fifty-six 
years  of  age.     I  spoke  a  few  words  to  him  and 

he  said,  "  Oh,  you're  one  of  those parsons, 

are  you  ?  Well,  I  want  to  tell  you  I  don't  take 
any  stock  in  you.  You  expect  me  to  feel  saved 
just  because  you  say  I  should,  but  you  won't 
get  me  to  do  it."  I  replied,  "  On  the  contrary, 
I  should  be  very  sorry  if  you  did /<?<??  saved,  for 
very  probably  you  would  feel  damned  to-morrow 
when  you  were  in  some  extra  pain  or  anguish  of 
body."  ''What,"  he  said,  "do  you  mean  to 
say  that  you  don't  want  me  to  feel  saved?" 
"No,"  I  answered,  "I  don't.  Your  feelings 
will  not  alter  facts,  and  it  is  the  fads  that  I 
want  you  to  see.  It  is  a  fact  that  God  sent  His 
Son  Jesus  Christ  into  the  world  to  die  for  you, 
and  because  of  this  God  the  Father  offers  you 
free  salvation  from  the  bondage  of  sin  and 
death."  "Augh,"  he  exclaimed,  "I  don't 
understand  all  that  rot."  "Well,  I  will  try  to 
I)ut  it  more  simply.     Remember  that  facts  are 


60  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

facts,  and  that  it  is  a  fact  that  the  Son  of  God 
has  literally  taken  your  place  and  paid  the  pen- 
alty for  your  sins ;  He  has  died  for  you,  and  so 
has  opened  to  you  the  door  of  heaven  that  you 
may  freely  enter.  He  has  sent  me  with  the 
document  which  contains  your  freedom  signed 
with  the  blood  of  Jesus,  and  I  simply  ask,  will 
you  accept  it?"  "I  don't  understand  what 
you're  driving  at,"  said  he.  ''Let  me  put  it 
to  you  still  more  plainly  then,"  I  answered. 

'i  Suppose  that;  you  have  committed  spme 
crime  and  you  are  in  prison,  and  the  €]^^mv 
because  the  Prince  of  Wales  has  satisfied  the 
law  for  you  prisoners,  sends  a  pardon  to  each 
one  of  you  in  prison,  and  says  that  if  you  will 
accej^t  it  you  can  go  out  free ;  and  that  if  you 
will  come  to-BieJ^  palace  i^he  will  give  you  a  home. 
Suppose  that  there  are  ten  men  in  ten  cells,  and 
the  messenger  comes  to  the  first  man  and  shows 
him  the  pardon.  He  says,  '  I  don't  believe  the 
q;tt^Si  ever  wrote  that  pardon ;  it  is  no  more 
good  than  just  so  much  waste  paper.'  The  sec- 
ond man  says,  '  I  liate  the  (j«eed  and  wouldn't 
accej)t  a  x)ardon  from  \\m\  on  any  account, '  and 
he  tears  up  the  paper.  The  third  man  says,  '  I 
don't  want  a  i)ardon,  I  am  contented  where  I 
am.  I  won't  take  my  liberty.'  A  fourth  says, 
'  Ah,  I  have  been  here  a  long  time ;  this  is  too 
good  to  be  true, '  and  he  refuses.  The  fifth  man 
looks  at  it  and  exclaims,   '  My  God,  is  this  for 


WHAT  GOD  HATH  CLEANSED.  61 

me !  '  He  grasps  it  and  jumps  up  and  exclaims, 
'Jailer,  let  me  out.'  He  presents  it  to  the 
warden  who  examines  the  paper,  says  '  It  is  all 
right,'  opens  the  door  and  lets  him  out  a  free 
man.  He  goes  to  the  queen  and  thanks  her, 
and  she  takes  him  into  her  royal  home. 

"Now  all  these  men  were  pardoned,  that  was 
the  fact  and  it  did  not  alter  the  fact  whether 
they  believed  it,  or  felt  pardoned,  or  refused  it, 
or  not.  But  suppose  that  the  queen  in  pardon- 
ing them  had  ordered  that  the  prison  slioukl  be 
burned  to  the  ground  on  the  morrow,  as  a  pest 
to  the  neighborhood,  and  had  proclaimed  that  all 
who  remain  in  it  must  perish  with  it.  Whose 
fault  will  it  be  if  I  refuse  the  pardon  and  remain 
there  in  spite  of  the  edict?"  "  Why,  yours,  you 
fool,"  said  he.  "  Quite  right,"  I  replied,  "only 
you  are  the  fool  this  time  and  not  I."  Now,  it 
is  a  fact  that  God  has  sent  me  as  his  messenger 
to  tell  you  that  his  Son  Jesus  Christ  has  paid 
the  ]3enalty  for  your  sins  and  has  opened  the 
door  into  heaven  for  you.  All  you  have  to  do  is 
to  take  the  pardon,  walk  into  the  kingdom,  and 
become  God's  heir."  "Why,  you  don't  mean 
to  say  that  it  is  a  fact  that  God's  Son  died  for 
me?"  (And  this  was  the  man  who  an  hour 
before  had  been  a  confirmed  skeptic !)  "  Yes,"  I 
said,  "that  is  the  fact.  He  died  for  you." 
"  Can  it  be  true?  "  he  said  ;   "  that  is  a  rum  say- 


62  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

again.  "  Do  you  really  mean  to  say  that  is 
true?  Tell  me  it  again.  I  am  fifty-six  years 
old,  and  to  this  day  no  man  ever  told  me  this 
before.  Do  you  really  mean  that  God  did  that 
for  me?  Go  over  it  again,  won't  you?"  I 
told  him  the  story  again  and  when  I  left  him 
there  was  a  more  peaceful  look  on  his  face,  and 
the  next  day  when  I  called  to  see  him,  he  said 
' '  Go  back  over  those  facts  you  told  me  before 
won't  you?  They  have  been  sticking  in  my 
gizzard  ever  since." 

About  six  weeks  later  he  was  sinking  rapidly, 
and  they  called  me  to  see  him.  He  seemed  to 
be  going  and  his  wife  rushed  up  to  him  and  put- 
ting her  arm  around  him  cried,  ''John,  do  tell 
me  that  you  feel  saved,  before  you  go."  He 
straightened  himself  ux3  a  little,  and  resting  upon 
one  arm  said  slowly  and  with  difficulty,  "  Wife  - 
feelings  -  make  -  no  -  difference. — Feelings  -don't 
alter  -facts. — It  -  is  -  a  -  fact  -  that  -  God's  -  Son- 
died  -  for -me -and -opened  -  the  -  door -that - 
I  -  might  -  go  -  into  -  heaven.  — I-  die  -  resting  -  on 
that -fact."     And  he  fell  back   and   was  gone. 

My  friends,  the  Gospel  message  comes  to  all ; 
there  is  not  a  sinner  who  may  not  be  saved  this 
moment,  for  salvation  is  a  finished  work  and  it 
is  free  to  you  if  you  will  accept  it.  It  is  for  all ; 
the  kingdom  is  opened  alike  for  Gentiles  and 
for  believers;  to  the  just  and  pure  and  to  the 
vile  and  outcast.  Salvation  is  an  accomplished 
work.     Accept  it. 


WHAT  GOD  HATH  CLEANSED.  63 

1.  Tliis  truth  does  away  with  sectarianism. 
You  may  think  you  are  an  eagle  and  that  other 
sects  are  the  poor  crawling  worms.  All  are 
equal — there  is  no  difference.  You  may  have 
climbed  up  to  the  top  of  the  sheet,  but  you  can 
never  get  out  by  yourself.  If  you  begin  to  glory 
in  yourself,  you  are  done  for.  Your  only  salva- 
tion is  in  God's  cleansing. 

2.  We  learn  that  our  duty  is  to  all  nations  and 
peoples  and  languages.  Therefore,  go  and  tell 
them  the  story  of  the  Cross. 

3.  Never  despair  of  any  man.  Seek  him  out 
to  save  him,  even  though  he  be  as  the  vilest  rep- 
tile.    Go  and  die  for  him  if  necessary. 

4.  There  is  also  a  lesson  for  the  careless,  the 
cold  and  the  unconverted.  "^  What  God  hath 
cleansed."  Have  you  ever  thought,  when  you 
were  giving  way  to  some  vile  i^assion  or  unholy 
desire,  that  God  had  cleansed  you.  What  right 
have  you  to  defile — to  treat  as  a  common  thing, 
to  pollute — the  body  of  humiliation  which  God 
hath  cleansed.  Never  call  it  common ;  never  use 
it  for  anything  low ;  never  use  your  tongue  to 
speak  vile,  unholy  things ;  never  use  your  eyes 
to  look  on  impure  sights ;  never  use  your  hands 
to  perform  unrighteous  acts.  If  you  do,  what 
must  be  the  awful  consequences !  In  Hebrews  x. 
28,  29  we  read :  "He  that  despised  Moses'  Law 
died  without  mercy  under  two  or  three  witnesses. 
Of  how  much  sorer  punishment,  suppose  ye,  shall 


64  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

lie  be  tliouglit  worthy  who  hath  trodden  under 
foot  the  Son  of  God,  and  hath  counted  the  blood  of 
the  covenant,  wherewith  he  was  sanctified,  an  un- 
holy thing,  and  hath  done  despite  unto  the  Spirit 
of  grace  ?  ' '  All  have  been  sanctified — cleansed 
by  God.  If  you  neglect  to  keep  clean  what  can 
become  of  you?  You  who  want  to  sow  your  wild 
oats — God  has  cleansed  your  being.  If  you  now 
count  it  common  what  can  become  of  you? 

5.  Christians,  God  hath  cleansed  you,  should 
you  then  be  groaning  under  the  bondage  of  some 
sin?  Recognize  the  fact  that  God  hath  cleansed 
you ;  therefore,  never  again  be  in  bondage  to  sin 
as  the  children  of  Israel  were  in  Egypt ;  never  be 
wandering  in  the  wilderness,  but  take  your  iDhice 
in  the  high  places ;  live  in  the  King's  court  in  the 
very  xiresence  of  God.  Never  make  common  what 
God  hath  cleansed.  Of  the  new  Jerusalem  we 
read  (Revelation  xxi.  27), "  There  shall  in  no  wise 
enter  into  it  anything  that  defileth — the  same 
word,  maketli  common — neither  whatsoever 
worketh  abomination  or  maketh  a  lie."  If  I  am 
common  I  cannot  enter  into  the  holy  city. 

Again,  never  call  any  man  or  woman  com- 
mon ;  no  prostitute,  or  murderer,  or  miser,  how- 
ever low  or  degraded.  Each  one  is  cleansed  by 
the  blood  of  Christ,  only  he  does  not  know  it.  Go 
tell  him  that  he  is  cleansed ;  preach  to  him  the 
Word  that  maketh  clean. 

God  hath  justified  himself.     He  has  provided 


WHAT  COD  IIATir  CLKASSKD.  65 

salvation  from  tlie  penalty,  and  from  the  very 
presence  and  power  of  .sin.  Will  you  stand  out 
on  this  blessed  truth  and  keep  clean  by  the  grace 
of  God  that  which  he  hath  cleansed  by  the  blood 
of  Christ? 


THE  PREPARED  MESSENGER. 


Thus  Ezekiel  is  unto  you  a  sign  ;  according  to  all  that  he  hath 
done,  shall  ye  do  ;  and  when  this  cometh  ye  shall  know  that  1  am 
the  Lord  God. — Ez.  xxiv.  24- 

Ezekiel  is  here  denoted  a  sign  or  type  of  the 
servant  of  God — one  whose  delight  is  to  make 
known  the  riches  of  God's  love.  You  will  never 
obtain  a  crown  as  a  messenger  of  the  Lord  of 
hosts,  nntil  you  become  a  holy  servant  of  God 
like  the  prophet  Ezekiel. 

The  people  are  described  in  this  book  as 
having  received  the  favor  of  God,  being  chosen 
as  the  medium  of  his  blessing.  God  allowed 
the  ten  tribes  to  sever  themselves  from  the 
two,  because  of  the  iniquity  of  Rehoboam, 
and  could  not  use  them  as  his  witnesses  and 
servants. 

There  could  not  be  found  in  all  Israel  a  man 
wholly  given  up  to  God ;  a  man  who  was  sancti- 
fied entirely  to  God's  service.  To  this  day  the 
ten  tribes  are  scattered  and  unknown  because 
they  despised  the  voice  of  God.  But  they  have 
not  been  punished  as  severely  as  the  other  two 
tribes,  because  they  did  not  crucify  God's  Son. 


THE  PREPARED  MESSENGER.  67 

Tliougli  God  spared  them,  and  offered  them 
mercy,  they  rejected  liis  offer. 

One  hundred  and  thirty- three  years  after 
Israel  was  taken  captive  into  Assyria,  Judah  and 
Benjamin  were  carried  into  Babylon.  There  the 
Lord  raised  up  this  man  Ezekiel  to  ])e  his  mes- 
senger to  the  captive  people. 

Why  does  the  Lord  select  one  man  from  the 
nation  or  parish,  and  give  him  a  special  blessing? 
It  is  that  he  may  go  back  to  his  parish  and 
become  a  witness  for  the  Lord  of  hosts.  We  are 
called  of  God  to  be  his  witness  wherever  we  go. 
The  nations  around  us,  like  Israel  and  Judah, 
refuse  to  take  the  blessing  of  the  Lord.  The 
people  of  England  and  of  America  have  likewise 
refused  to  live  in  the  full  light  of  the  Lord.  We 
are  called  to  go  to  those  who  have  refused  God's 
blessing,  and  are  now  in  captivity.  Our  own 
family,  our  own  nation  are  living  in  bondage, 
and  to  them  God  would  send  us. 

Ezekiel  is  the  only  man  to  whom  the  title 
"  Son  of  man"  is  given  as  it  is  given  to  the  Son 
of  God."^  We  find  it  aj)plied  to  Ezekiel  the  same 
number  of  times  (89)  that  it  is  used  with  reference 
to  our  Lord  in  the  Gospel  according  to  St.  John. 
Therefore  we  conclude  that  the  name  "  Son  of 
man"  is  used  for  a  special  ];)urpose  here.  The 
title  Son  of  num  is  given  to  Jesus  Christ  to  show 


*  Once  you  will  find  it  in  Daniel  vii.  13,  referring  to  the  Messiah. 


68  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

that  God  has  called  Jesus  Christ  to  be  his  wit- 
ness. He  can  thus  take  any  man  to  be  his 
witness,  who  will  hear  and  obey  his  voice. 
''Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  "  is  repeated  over 
two  hundred  times  in  this  book.  It  is  the 
special  voice  of  God  to  Ezekiel.  The  Lord  pre- 
pares his  servants  to-day  exactly  as  he  i3repared 
Ezekiel. 

' '  The  word  of  the  Lord  came  expressly  unto 
Ezekiel  the  priest,  the  son  of  Buzi,  in  the  land 
of  the  Chaldeans  by  the  river  Chebar ;  and  the 
hand  of  the  Lord  was  there  upon  him  "  (Ezekiel 
i.  3).  These  are  the  first  two  stex)s  in  God's 
preparations  of  his  messengers:  First,  the 
Word ;  then,  the  Jiand  of  the  Lord  put  upon  man 
to  make  him  feel  that  he  is  a  chosen  vessel  unto 
the  Lord. 

Third,  there  must  be  the  revelation  of  the 
glory  of  God.  ''As  the  apiDearance  of  the  bow 
that  is  in  the  cloud  in  the  day  of  rain,  so  was 
the  appearance  of  the  brightness  round  about. 
This  was  the  appearance  of  the  likeness  of  the 
glory  of  the  Lord.  And  when  I  saw  it,  I  fell  on 
my  face,  and  I  heard  a  voice  of  one  that  spake  ' ' 
(Ezekiel  i.  28). 

Has  the  glory  of  God  appeared  to  you  as  it  did 
to  Ezekiel?  It  appeared  to  Paul,  to  Peter,  and 
to  John,  and  every  one  in  the  Old  and  in  the 
New  Testament  to  whom  it  came  fell  upon  their 
faces  before  it  as  dead  men. 


THE  PR  EPA  n  ED  ^fESSE^r;ER.  09 

Then  came  the  Spirit  and  entered  unto  him 
(Ezekiel  ii.  2),  and  next  the  command  beginnin*:^ 
with,  "Thus  saith  the  Lord  God.''  The  com- 
mand is  "Go  speak  to  the  house  of  Israel  "  (iii. 
1),  and  then  follows  the  message  which  he  is  to 
cany  to  them. 

The  word,  the  hand,  the  glory,  the  Spirit,  the 
command  of  the  Lord  compelled  him  to  go ;  he 
could  not  stay.  How  many  of  us  have  felt  that 
we  must  go  and  give  a  message  —  fearing  to 
refuse,  saying,  I  cannot  escape.  The  Lord  must 
have  a  man  of  fixed  purpose.  But  after  he  has 
given  the  fivefold  call,  if  you  still  go  unwill- 
ingly and  in  bitterness  of  spirit,  the  Lord  will 
not  anoint  you  with  power. 

But  a  man  must  abide  God's  time  to  speak. 
"When  I  speak  with  thee,  I  will  open  thy 
mouth,  and  thou  shalt  say  unto  them,  thus  saith 
the  Lord  God;  he  that  heareth,  let  him  hear; 
and  he  that  f orbeareth,  let  him  forbear ;  for  they 
are  a  rebellious  house  "  (iii.  27).  God  would  not 
open  Ezekiel' s  mouth  at  first  (iii.  26),  because 
Ezekiel  was  not  ready,  and  you  will  have  no 
power  until  the  Lord  opens  your  mouth. 

Men  and  women  go  to  a  convention  and  talk 
about  the  blessing  that  they  have  received ;  they 
shake  the  speaker's  hand  and  say  that  they  have 
"enjoyed  it  so  much.''  My  friends,  the  en- 
trance into  God's  blessed  promises  is  not  a 
thing  to   enjoy  immediately.     For  many  days 


70  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

you  may  not  enjoy  it,  for  there  are  battles  to 
figlit  and  the  flesh  to  be  mortified  before  yon  are 
ready  for  the  peaceful  enjoyment  of  the  blessing. 

Now  God  says  to  Ezekiel  (chapter  iv.),  "I 
want  you  to  get  ready  and  show  the  i^eople  a 
picture  of  the  City  of  Peace  being  taken  by  the 
heathen."  Ezekiel  was  told  to  lie  down  upon 
his  left  side  for  three  hundred  and  ninety  days, 
according  to  the  number  of  days  that  he  was  to 
bear  the  iniquity  of  the  house  of  Israel.  Then 
he  was  afterwards  to  lie  for  forty  days  upon 
his  right  side  in  bearing  the  iniquity  of  Judah. 
You  must  give  up  all  your  earthly  business,  all 
your  work;  you  must  be  separated  from  your 
home — you  \vill  be  called  a  fool  for  lying  upon 
your  side  for  a  year  and  a  quarter — until  you 
feel  the  curse  that  has  come  upon  your  land, 
and' until  you  feel  the  sin  of  the  people  of  Eng- 
land and  America. 

But  that  is  not  enough.  The  Lord  tells  him 
to  defile  his  priesthood  by  eating  defiled  bread. 
Poor  Ezekiel  cries  out,  ''  Oh,  my  Lord!  I  have 
never  been  polluted,  do  not  make  me  filthy  in 
the  eyes  of  man"  (Ezekiel  iv.  14).  God  said, 
"  You  must  do  it" — and  we  too  must  obey  the 
word  of  the  Lord  no  matter  what  it  costs  us. 

God  says  furthermore,  ''  Dig  thou  through  the 
wall  in  their  sight,  and  carry  out  thereby ' ' 
(xii.  5).  You  must  remove  from  the  rebellious 
house.     Everybody  will  stop  and  look  at  the 


THE  PREP. [RED  MESSEXGER.  7 1 

man  who  is  tearing  liis  house  down,  and  carry- 
ing everything  ont.  Men  will  wonder  and  per- 
haps scoff,  but  you  must  do  it.  If  you  are 
willing  to  give  up  your  home,  and  your  precious 
ornaments  to  be  kicked  about  or  carried  off  by 
the  men  of  the  world,  God  will  use  you.  I  can- 
not say  what  God  will  tell  you  to  do,  but  what 
he  commands  must  be  done. 

Some  time  ago  at  Keswick,  when  I  was  speak- 
ing on  this  subject  and  was  saying  that  a  conse- 
crated man,  like  Ezekiel,  must  be  ready  to  give 
up  his  business,  his  X)riesthood,  his  home,  j)os- 
sibly  even  his  wife  before  he  could  receive  a 
blessing — suddenly  a  man  arose  in  the  audience 
and  bursting  into  tears  said,  "  Mr.  Peploe,  don't 
— don't — don't!  Is  God  going  to  ask  that  of 
me?  It  seems  too  much."  The  man  was  Bishop 
Hill,  afterwards  the  first  bishop  sent  to  Africa. 
It  was  a  most  solemn  scene  to  see  that  young 
man  in  full  strength  of  body,  standing  there, 
weeping  at  the  thought  of  giving  up  one  dearer 
to  him  than  life.  I  said,  "  Brother,  I  cannot  say 
what  God  may  do.  But  may  you  be  ready 
when  he  calls." 

This  man  died  a  short  time  ago,  and  Miss 
Maxwell,  one  of  the  missionaries  who  labored 
near  him  in  Africa,  but  knew  nothing  of  what 
had  hap23ened  at  Keswick,  recently  told  me  the 
striking  event  of  his  death.  She  said  that 
Bishop  Hill  preached  at  her  parish  one  Sunday, 


72  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

and  seemed  inspired  by  God  tliroughout  the 
service.  He  spoke  on  Ezekiel,  and  showed  how 
God  may  require  lis  to  give  up  one  thing  and 
then  another,  in  order  that  we  may  be  brought 
nearer  to  Him.  At  last  he  said,  "  You  may  even 
be  called  upon  to  give  up  the  dearest  one  on 
earth  to  you."  "It  seemed  wonderful,"  Miss 
Maxwell  said,  "he  was  speaking  out  of  his 
whole  heart.  He  said,  '  Brethren,  do  you  not 
think  that  God  will  give  you  grace  to  part  with 
the  desire  of  your  eyes,  and  that  you  will  not 
sigh  with  pain  ?  ' 

"After  service  he  was  talking  with  some 
friends  and  just  then  his  wife  came  in,  and  he 
said,  'Darling,  sister  has  been  asking  me  if  I 
could  part  with  the  desire  of  my  heart,  and  not 
grieve  with  bitter  pain. '  She  said,  '  What  did 
you  say,  dear? '  He  replied,  '  I  have  been  six 
months  getting  ready  to  say  it;  thank  God,  I 
can  say  it  now.  I  can  part  even  with  you.' "  It 
took  him  six  months  to  get  ready  to  be  a  sign. 

' '  He  was  seized  with  fever  on  Monday,  and  on 
Thursday  he  died.  The  wife  who  had  been 
taken  ill  previously,  died  first,  and  then  he  died 
very  soon  after;  neither  knew  of  the  other's 
death." 

Be  consecrated  to  God  now.  He  can  never 
show  you  his  glory  until  you  are.  The  Lord  is 
better  than  our  faith.  The  Lord  knows  what  is 
good  for  us.     If  he  calls  any  of   us   to  be  an 


THE  rn EPA  RED  MESSEXCER.  73 

Ezekiel,  he  will  prepare  us  and  give  ns  strength 
for  it.  God  has  to  call  yon,  as  he  called  Ezekiel, 
before  he  can  reveal  his  glory,  and  before  you 
can  show  to  others  the  glory  and  riches  of  God.* 

The  glory  of  the  Lord  cannot  stay  in  the  house 
of  man  because  of  sin.  God  w^ants  a  consecrated 
temple,  a  consecrated  people.  He  is  ready  to 
consecrate  you,  but  it  will  cost  you  something. 
Are  you  ready  for  any  sacrifice? 

*'Our  light  affliction,  wiiicli  is  but  for  a 
moment,  worketh  for  us  a  far  more  exceeding 
and  eternal  weight  of  glory ;  while  we  look  not 
at  the  tilings  which  are  seen,  but  at  the  things 
which  are  not  seen;  for  the  things  wdiich  are 
seen  are  temporal ;  but  the  things  wdiicli  are  not 
seen  are  eternal." 

"Who  is  Avilling  in  the  day  of  his  i^ower?  " 

May  the  Lord  help  you  to  say  :  "  Here  am  I, 
Lord,  take  me,  consecrate  me,  use  me,  send  me 
as  thy  messenger  wiierever  thou  wilt." 


*The  notes  of  address  are  imperfect  here,  but  Mr.  Peploe  called  attention 
to  the  fruitful  field  for  thought  in  the  study  and  comparison  with  each  other 
of  viii.  4;  ix.  3  ;  xi.  22,  23;  and  xliii.  2,  4.  The  glory  of  the  Lord  went  up 
from  the  city  and  stood  over  Olivet,  never  again  to  be  seen  until  the  rebuilding 
of  the  temple.  D.  L.  P. 


THE  WAY  OF  BLESSING. 


From  tliis  day  will  I  bless  you. — Haggai  ii.  19. 

We  are  not  ignorant,  says  the  Apostle  Paul,  of 
the  devices  of  Satan ;  and  it  is  well  for  those 
who  can  say  as  confidently  as  the  Apostle  that 
they  are  not  ignorant  of  the  many  tricks  and 
schemes  by  which  Satan  is  trying  to  prevent 
God's  people  from  being  blessed,  and  the  world 
from  being  saved.  It  has  been  well  said  that 
where  Satan  cannot  destroy,  he  seeks  to  dis- 
hearten; where  Satan  cannot  condemn,  he 
seeks  to  separate.  That  may  be  why  the 
Holy  Ghost  inspired  Paul  in  the  eighth  of 
Romans  to  tell  us  that  while  we  begin  Avith  no 
condemnation  we  complete  our  blessedness  with 
no  separation. 

You  may  have  experienced  heartrending  dis- 
tress at  the  thought  that  you  might  have  lived 
so  much  brighter  and  better  and  more  beautiful 
lives,  and  that  you  might  have  glorified  God 
so  much  more,  if  from  the  very  beginning  of 
your  spiritual  life  you  had  faithfully  utilized 
the  goodness  of  God  to  his  glory.     It  is  quite 


THE  WAY  OF  BLESSING.  75 

possible  that  after  having  reviewed  the  goodness 
of  God,  and  their  own  past  failures  and  follies, 
many  will  say,  ''It  is  practically  useless  forme 
to  try;  habits  are  so  confirmed,  efforts  have 
been  so  futile,  failures  have  been  so  many  that 
I  see  no  use  whatever  in  expecting  anything 
better." 

Where  the  devil  cannot  rob  ns  of  our  salva- 
tion he  often  easily  robs  us  of  our  expectation. 
Your  ability  to  exhibit  better,  brighter,  more 
powerful  and  more  beautiful  lives  in  future  than 
you  dreamed  possible  in  the  past,  depends  upon 
your  conception  of  God.  If  we  could  only  com- 
prehend God  we  should  live  a  perfect  life, 
because  "this  is  life  eternal,  that  they  may 
know  thee  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ 
whom  thou  hast  sent."  It  is  for  want  of  knowl- 
edge of  God  that  our  lives  are  such  failures.* 

Look  at  the  magnificence  of  God  in  his  love, 
his  patience,  his  tenderness  and  his  forbearance, 
and  then  say  whether  you  are  waiting  for  better 
and  brighter  things  and  w^ondering  how  it  is 
possible  for  you  to  live  a  life  of  blessedness,  a  life 
of  power,  a  life  of  peace. 

*  In  Hosca,  that  wonderful  book  of  revelation  to  men's  souls,  the  Holy  Ghost 
by  the  prophet  shows  two  great  things:  first,  that  sin  lay  in  the  want  of 
knowledge  and  in  the  refusal  of  knowledge;  and,  secondly,  that,  nevertheless, 
God  was  perpetually  saying  to  his  people, "  Turn  and  return."  The  key  words 
to  the  prophecy  of  Ilosea  are  kiioir'ed^p  and  hioir,  and  turn  and  reliirv,  as  much 
as  to  say  You  have  despised  the  one  thing  that  makes  eternal  life,  you  have  re- 
jected the  Lord  and  played  the  whore,  whereas  you  should  have  been  to  him  a 
pure  and  holy  wife;  yet  return,  says  the  Lord,  and  understand  the  blessed 
truth  of  what  God  is. 


76  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

Before  I  take  up  the  wonderful  passage  before 
us,  I  want  to  introduce  it  by  a  few  tliouglits  from 
the  prophets,  and  from  two  or  three  of  the  histor- 
ical books  which  show  how  God  is  ever  ready  to 
give  a  blessing  notwithstanding  the  utter  deprav- 
ity of  man. 

The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  not  revealed  from 
heaven  until  men  had  come  to  utter  ruin.  It 
was  the  same  in  the  days  of  Noah,  and  in  the 
days  of  Moses  when  the  people  had  sunk  until 
there  was  not  a  family  on  the  face  of  the  earth 
that  really  belonged  to  God.  God  then  took  one 
man,  Moses,  and  drew  him  out  from  the  i^lace  of 
destruction,  and  manifested  his  grace  unto  him, 
so  that  through  this  one  man  whom  God  forced 
to  be  faithful,  a  whole  nation  could  be  saved 
and  brought  out  into  absolute  liberty  and  bless- 
ing. Faithful  souls  may  be  made  to  see  that 
the  Lord  can  be  merciful  to  a  people  sunk  into 
utter  depravity,  who  knew  no  better ;  but  when 
the  revelation  of  God  has  been  made  to  them, 
then  they  were  brought  out  into  light  and  lib- 
erty, and  did  not  fall  back.  Perhaps  you 
have  heard  of  the  keeping  power  of  Christ,  and 
still  have  wandered  away  f roni  him,  so  that  now 
you  are  ashamed  to  look  up  into  the  face  of  God. 
That  is  exactly  the  position  I  would  ask  you  to 
occupy. 

In  an  after-meeting  in  my  own  church  in  Lon- 
don, I  was  once  endeavoring  to  show  a  man  that 


THE  WA  Y  OF  BLESSING.  77 

there  was  mercy  for  the  vilest.  The  man  said, 
"I  have  been  a  backslider;  I  have  wandered 
away  from  my  Lord  until  I  am  al)Solutely  with- 
out hope."  I  said,  "God  conies  to  the  back- 
slider, and  there  is  hope  for  him."  I  turned  to 
the  book  of  Micali  where  God  says  that  he  will 
sink  man's  sins  into  the  very  depths  of  the  sea, 
and  I  said,  "You  are  lorobably  aware  that  even 
a  cannon  ball  will  not  sink  beyond  a  certain 
depth  in  the  ocean,  and  yet  God  says  that  your 
sins  shall  go  lower  than  a  cannon  ball  and  can- 
not come  up  again."  See  how  the  devil  will 
dishearten  a  soul!  The  man  turned  upon  me 
with  a  look  of  anguish  and  said,  "  Oh,  my  God, 
you  don't  mean  to  say  that  a  cannon  ball  will 
not  sink,  and  that  my  sins  will  go  below  a 
cannon  ball !  God  have  mercy  upon  me !  How 
awfully  heavy  my  sins  must  be;  there  is  no 
chance  for  me  whatever !  ' ' 

"  Resist  the  devil  and  he  will  flee  from  you." 
Resist  him  when  he  comes  with  subtle  doubts, 
with  difficult  questions,  with  hard  and  bitter 
things  against  you,  drive  him  back  by  the  sword 
of  the  Spirit  and  the  shield  of  Faith ;  quench  all 
his  ffery  darts,  and  listen  to  the  voice  of  God. 
What  does  God  say  concerning  the  people  who 
have  been  brought  out  from  captivity,  and  have 
been  placed  in  a  x)osition  of  liberty,  joy,  and 
peace  with  God,  and  yet  have  stiffened  their 
necks  and   hardened  their  hearts   against  him? 


78  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

Have  you  noticed  the  turning  point  in  the  reve- 
lation of  God  in  the  book  of  Isaiah  ?  Up  to  the 
thirty-ninth  chapter,  the  Spirit  is  trying  to  con- 
vince men  of  sin,  of  tlie  destruction  that  awaits 
the  sinner  if  he  continues  in  his  sin,  of  the  gen- 
eral provisions  of  God  for  salvation,  of  the  tinal 
judgments  of  God  on  the  earth,  and  of  God's 
general  provision  of  perfect  salvation  and  glory 
hereafter.  But  suddenly  when  Hesekiah,  the 
king,  has  refused  the  goodness  of  God,  who  has 
brought  him  out  of  his  mortal  sin  and  given  him 
assurance  of  riches  and  comfort,  and  has  become 
boastful  and  haughty  and  wicked  again,  the 
X)rophecy  changes  in  character  and  God  merci- 
fully says :  ' '  Speak  ye  comfortably  to  Jerusalem, 
cry  unto  her  that  her  warfare  is  accomplished,  that 
her  iniquity  is  pardoned ;  for  she  hath  received 
of  the  Lord's  hand  double  for  all  her  sins.  Let 
the  voice  cry,  '  Prepare  the  way  of  the  Lord !  '  " 
For  what  is  he  coming  ?  To  take  the  poor  little 
lambs  into  his  bosom,  to  make  the  earth  that  was 
barren  bring  forth  an  hundred-fold,  to  make  the 
young  men  rise  up  with  wings  as  eagles.  Is  that 
consistent  with  the  first  chapter  of  Isaiah  ?  Your 
high  critic  with  all  his  learning,  I  am  sorry  to 
think,  does  not  know  the  blessed  God.  It  is 
exactly  what  God  might  be  expected  to  do — to 
turn  to  the  depraved,  the  lost  and  the  x>roud, 
and  to  say,  ' '  I  still  forgive,  I  still  enable,  I  still 
bring  a  blessing.     Hearken  to  me,  thou  worm  of 


THE  WA  Y  OF  BLESSING.  79 

Jacob;  with  thee,  thou  worm,  will  I  thresh  the 
mountains."  That  is  exactly  like  our  God,  is  it 
not?  And  yet  you  have  felt  yourselves  such 
outcasts  that  you  thought  there  was  no  hope  for 
you  with  regard  to  this  holy  life. 

Take  another  instance.  Just  before  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  about  590  (150  years 
later  than  Isaiah),  when  the  last  days  of  Jerusalem 
are  coming,  everything  is  sinking  into  the  very 
dregs  of  humiliation,  and  it  would  seem  that 
there  is  no  hope  for  the  people  of  God.  The 
ten  tribes  have  been  scattered,  and  now  the  utter 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  is  at  hand,  and  yet, 
although  they  have  sinned  against  the  Lord  to  an 
awful  extent,  so  that  the  prophet  Jeremiah  has 
to  say,  "Shame  hath  devoured  the  labor  of  our 
fathers  from  our  youth ;  their  tlocks  and  their 
herds ;  their  sons  and  their  daughters.  ^Ye  lie 
down  in  our  shame,  and  our  confusion  covereth 
us ;  for  we  have  sinned  against  the  Lord  our  God, 
we  and  our  fathers,  from  our  youth  even  unto 
this  day,  and  have  not  obeyed  the  voice  of  the 
Lord  our  God"  (Jeremiah  iii.  24,  25).  From 
chapter  three  to  chapter  thirty-two  it  is  the 
same  story  all  the  way  through,  until  at  last  we 
read  in  the  thirty-second  chapter  and  thirtieth 
verse,  "  The  children  of  Israel  and  the  children 
of  Judah  have  only  done  evil  before  me  from 
their  youth ;  for  the  children  of  Israel  have  only 
provoked  me  to  anger  with  the  work  of  their 


80  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

hands,  saith  the  Lord."  The  next  few  verses 
tell  ns  what  they  had  done.  Then  notice  verse 
thirty-six.  '' JN'ow  therefore, " — one  of  the  most 
amazing  theref ores  to  be  found  in  the  w^hole  Bible 
— ''And  now  therefore,  thus  saith  the  Lord,  the 
God  of  Israel,  concerning  this  city,  whereof  ye 
say.  It  shall  be  delivered  into  the  hand  of  the 
king  of  Babylon  by  the  sword,  and  by  the  famine, 
and  by  the  pestilence."  Then  to  the  end  of  the 
next  chapter  Ave  have  a  series  of  "I  wdlls  " 
betokening  the  unsearchable  riches  of  God,  and 
his  love  and  goodness  tow^ards  his  people. 

Let  us  take  a  stage  further  than  the  time  of  Jer- 
emiah. Within  two  or  three  j^ears  of  his  utter- 
ing those  w^ords  Jerusalem  was  overthrown 
(in  588  B.  C),  and  the  people  w^ere  carried  away 
into  Babylon  where  they  had  to  endure  seventy 
years  of  captivity.  Now  at  the  end  of  the  cap- 
tivity (though  the  seventy  years  w^ere  not  ful- 
filled entirely),  when  the  time  came  that  Cyrus 
was  about  to  come  to  the  throne,  we  read  (II. 
Chron.  xxxvi.  22):  "Now,  in  the  first  year  of 
Cyrus  king  of  Persia,  that  the  Avord  of  the  Lord 
spoken  by  the  mouth  of  Jeremiah  might  be 
accomx^lished,  the  Lord  stirred  up  the  spirit  of 
Cyrus  king  of  Persia,  that  he  made  a  proclama- 
tion throughout  all  his  kingdom  and  put  it  also 
in  Avriting,  saying,  '  Thus  saith  Cyrus  king  of 
Persia,  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth  hath  the 
Lord  God  of   Heaven   given  me;  and  he   hath 


THE  WAY  OF  BLESSING.  81 

charged  nie  to  build  liiiu  a  house  in  Jerusalem, 
whicli  is  in  Jiidah.  Who  is  there  anion^-  yon  of 
all  his  people?  The  Lord  his  God  be  with  him, 
and  let  him  go  up.'  " 

I  am  drawing  toward  solemn  deductions  from 
these  facts.  The  opening  of  the  book  of  Ezra  is 
a  repetition  of  these  Avords  which  are  there  fol- 
lowed by  a  call  for  the  people  who  are  willing  to 
go,  and  under  Zerubbabel  six  thousand  people 
return  to  Jerusalem.  This  edict  would  seem  to 
have  been  passed  in  about  536  B.  C.  These  men 
come  back  to  Jerusalem.  They  are  the  beloved, 
the  elect  like  you  and  me,  avIio,  having  once  re- 
ceived the  favor  of  God,  have  fallen  into  god- 
lessness  and  carelessness,  and  selfishness  and 
depravity,  and  have  as  a  chastisement  been 
allowed  to  come  into  bondage,  burden  bearing, 
and  distress.  We  feel  we  are  in  captivity  and 
are  not  enjoying  the  covenant  privileges  of  God 
as  we  might,  and  yet  we  believe  that  we  are  his 
covenant  people.  Now,  God  gives  the  edict  that 
sets  us  free,  and  we  are  brought  back  out  of  cap- 
tivity into  a  position  of  i)rivilege.  We  are  in 
Jerusalem.  And  yet  it  may  be  that,  like  the 
beloved  few  who  returned  to  Jerusalem  at  last, 
you  wander  over  the  ruins  of  your  own  i)ast  his- 
tory saying,  "  Oh,  my  God,  there  is  no  hope  for 
me,  I  cannot  be  better.  I  have  sought  to  over- 
come that  temper,  that  restf ulness,  that  worldli- 
ness,  that   selfishness  to  which  I  have  been  in 


82  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

bondage,  but  I  cannot.  Only  last  night  I  made 
confession  to  God  and  consecrated  myself  to  him. 
And  yet  already  I  have  fallen  back  again ;  I  am 
in  a  city  of  desolation  instead  of  prosperity. ' ' 

Ninety  years  after  the  time  of  Cyrus's  edict, 
Ezra  says:  ''Oh,  my  God,  I  am  ashamed,  and 
blush  to  lift  up  my  face  to  thee,  my  God ;  for 
our  iniquities  are  increased  over  our  head,  and 
our  trespass  is  grown  uj)  unto  the  heavens. 
Since  the  days  of  our  fathers  have  we  been  in  a 
great  trespass  unto  this  day ;  and  for  our  iniqui- 
ties have  we,  our  kings  and  our  priests,  been 
delivered  into  the  hand  of  the  kings  of  the  lands, 
to  the  sword,  to  captivity,  and  to  a  spoil,  and  to 
confusion  of  face,  as  it  is  this  day.  And  now  for 
a  little  space  grace  hath  been  showed  from  the 
Lord  our  God,  to  leave  us  a  remnant  to  escape, 
and  to  give  us  a  nail  in  his  holy  place,  that  our 
God  may  lighten  our  eyes,  and  give  us  a  little 
reviving  in  our  bondage.  For  we  were  bondmen ; 
yet  our  God  hath  not  forsaken  us  in  our  bond- 
age, but  hath  extended  mercy  unto  us ' '  <'Ezra 
ix.  6). 

Now  take  Nehemiah.  The  whole  of  the  ninth 
chapter  is  taken  up  with  that  wonderful  con- 
fession made  by  Nehemiah,  the  reforming  legis- 
lator, as  it  were,  for  the  country.  He  lays 
before  God,  how  God  had  done  for  them  every- 
thing he  could  in  the  way  of  blessing,  and  at 
last  he  says  :   ' '  Thou  gavest  them  saviours  who 


THE  WA  Y  OF  BLESSING.  83 

saved  them  out  of  tlip  liniul  of  their  enemies. 
]^ut  after  tliey  had  rest.".  .  .  You  say,"  I  know 
what  this  life  of  rest  is.  I  entered  into  it  and  had 
blessing  for  a  time,  but  I  fell  back,  and  there  is 
no  hope  for  me. "  Listen  :  ' '  After  they  had  rest, 
they  did  evil  again  before  thee  ;  therefore  leftest 
thou  them  in  the  hand  of  their  enenues,  so  that 
they  had  the  dominion  over  them;  yet  when 
they  returned,  and  cried  unto  thee,  thou  heard- 
est  them  from  heaven;  and  many  times  didst 
thou  deliver  them  according  to  thy  mercies; 
and  testifiedst  against  them,  that  thou  mightest 
bring  them  again  unto  thy  law ;  yet  they  dealt 
proudly  and  hearkened  not  unto  thy  command- 
ments but  sinned  against  thy  judgments  (which 
if  a  man  do  he  shall  live  in  them) ;  and  with- 
drew the  shoulder,  and  hardened  their  neck,  and 
would  not  hear.  They  would  not  give  ear;  now, 
therefore,  our  God,  the  great,  and  the  terrible 
God,  who  keepest  covenant  and  mercy,  let  not  all 
the  trouble  seem  little  before  thee  that  hath  come 
upon  us,  on  our  kings,  on  our  princes,  and  on  our 
priests,  and  on  our  proph^s,  and  on  our  fathers 
and  on  all  thy  people,  since  the  time  of  the  kings 
of  Assyria  unto  this  day.  .  .  .  In  thy  great  good- 
ness that  thou  gavest  them,  and  in  the  large  and 
fat  land  which  thou  gavest  before  them,  neither 
turned  they  from  their  wicked  works  "  (Xehe- 
miali  ix.  27-35).  From  that  moment  of  confes- 
sion God  began  to  l)less  them. 


84  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

I  have  now  traced  the  peipetual  falls  of  Israel 
for  hundreds  of  years;  the  evils  of  the  nation's 
experience  and  the  goodness  of  God.  He  came 
to  them  first,  as  a  nation,  in  Egypt;  second, 
he  came  to  them  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  when 
they  had  put  themselves  in  the  power  of  the 
enemies,  and  lie  gave  them  saviours ;  third,  he 
came  to  them  when  the  kingdom  had  been 
divided  and  had  become  still  more  separated 
from  God;  he  sent  away  ten  tribes  from  the 
other  two,  and  then  when  those  two  utterly 
failed  to  comprehend  and  prosper  by  that  lesson 
he  sent  them  into  captivity;  then  he  brought 
them  back  into  the  land  of  possession  and  privi- 
lege, but  the  land  was  then  nearly  desolate, 
and  the  returned  captives  had  only  a  troubled 
peace  and  a  partial  liberty.  That  is,  perhaps, 
your  condition,  and  you  say  :  ' '  There  is  no  use 
talking  to  me  now  about  the  life  of  x)eace  and 
holiness  and  of  jDOwer ;  it  is  impossible  for  such 
a  one  as  I." 

Now  I  want  to  bring  you  to  the  x)osition  of 
privilege.  Read  in  Haggai  Avliat  God  says  of 
those  who  have  just  come  out  of  bondage  into  a 
condition  of  liberty,  and  yet  have  no  peace,  no 
power,  no  life  and  no  joy.  The  edict  of  Cyrus 
was  issued  about  535  or  536  ;  the  people  came  out 
from  Babylonish  captivity  and  reached  Jerusa- 
lem in  safety  under  Zerubbabel ;  they  took  pos- 
session of  the  land  again  in  peace,  and  might 


THE  WAY  OF  niESsixa.  85 

have  started  a  life  of  power,  progress  and  pros- 
perity from  that  moment.  In  the  year  520  the 
prophets  Ilaggai  and  Zechariah  were  raised  np 
by  God  to  speak  to  the  i)eople  of  their  p)resent 
position.  Tliey  had  had  fifteen  or  sixteen  years 
possession  of  the  land,  deliverance  from  cap- 
tivity, years  of  possibility,  progress  and  i)eace. 
What  had  they  done  with  those  years  of  oppor- 
tunity? 

Many  say,  ''  I  heard  of  this  life  of  rest  when 
I  was  in  bondage  to  the  world,  and  I  came  back, 
made  a  covenant,  and  took  possession  of  wdiat 
I  thought  was  the  land  of  Jerusalem — the  city 
of  peace — but  it  has  never  been  a  blessing  to  me. 
What  is  wrong  in  my  consecration?  I  gave 
myself  to  God,  looked  for  x)ower,  I  pleaded  for 
the  fullness  of  the  Spirit,  asked  for  a  baptism ; 
I  thought  I  had  something,  but  it  never  came  to 
anything."  Brethren,  the  trouble  is  this  :  You 
have  been  too  much  concerned  for  yourself  in- 
stead of  'being  concerned  icith  the  Lord  God 
A hn  ifjli  ty  an d  h  is  work.  Remember  those  strik- 
ing words,  the  idea  of  which  occurs  so  repeatedly 
in  the  epistles,  ''Whether  ye  eat  or  drink  or 
whatsoever  ye  do,  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God." 
You  ate  and  drank  that  you  might  get  strong ; 
you  ate  and  drank  that  you  might  get  rich  and 
fat  in  spiritual  things ;  perhaps  you  toolv  work 
for  the  Lord  that  you  might  be  powerful ;  you 
entered    upon    the    X)osition    which    the    Lord 


86  THE  VICTOBIOUS  LIFE. 

accorded  to  yoii  that  you  might  become  great  in 
the  eves  of  men,  and  it  has  been  one  long  failure. 

Look  at  the  prophecy  of  Haggai.  It  is  con- 
tained on  but  one  page,  yet  it  covers  a  period 
of  three  months  and  a  half.  It  begins  on  the 
first  day  of  the  sixth  month  of  the  second  year 
of  Darius  the  king,  and  it  ends  on  the  twenty- 
fourth  day  of  the  ninth  month  in  the  second 
year  of  Darius  the  king.  Haggai  describes  four 
visions  in  the  two  short  chax)ters. 

What  is  the  first  revelation  which  the  Lord 
gives  to  Haggai,  whose  name  means  '^the  visi- 
ble one. "  "  Thus  speaketh  the  Lord  of  Hosts, 
saying,  This  people  say,  the  time  is  not  come, 
the  time  that  the  Lord's  house  should  be  built,"' 
Yet,  in  II.  Cliron.  xxxvi.  and  Ezra  i.  we  read  that 
Cyrus  made  an  edict  that  the  people  should 
build  God  a  house.  It  was  the  one  purpose  of 
their  deliverance  from  the  bondage  into  which 
they  had  fallen.  This  bondage  was  not  like  the 
bondage  of  Egypt  into  which  they  were  born ; 
the  name  Babel  or  Babylon  means  confusion,  and 
they  had  gone  to  Babylon,  the  city  of  confusion, 
simply  because  they  were  seeking  their  own  things 
instead  of  the  things  of  God.  They  had  years 
of  captivity  and  trial  and  pain,  and  were  deliv- 
ered from  bondage  solely  for  one  purpose,  that 
they  might  get  away  from  confusion.  God  is 
not  the  author  of  Babylon  or  confusion,  he  is  the 
author  of  j)eace,  if  we  will  only  take  it.     Judah 


THE  WA  Y  OF  BLESSING.  87 

and  Benjamin  were  brought  out  from  Babel  that 
they  might  buihl  a  house  of  God,  and  yet  six- 
teen years  passed  by  witli  practically  no  fruit. 
How  many  years  have  you  gone  on  in  what  you 
have  called  a  position  of  privilege,  as  church 
members,  and  yet  have  done  little  or  nothing  to 
the  glory  of  God?  You  have  had  perhaps  six- 
teen years  of  grace  with  grand  opportunities  for 
building,  the  one  purpose  for  which  you  were 
saved.  Now,  the  Lord  says  to  you,  "  This  peo- 
ple say,  the  time  is  not  come,  the  time  that  the 
Lord's  house  should  be  built."  He  means  that 
Christian  after  Christian  keeps  saying,  ''It  is 
time  for  me  to  tliink  of  my  soul,  I  must  go  to 
convention,  service,  meeting,  conference,  place 
after  place  where  I  can  get  a  blessing."  But 
they  are  not  building  God's  house ;  they  are  not 
seeking  his  glory.  Beloved,  you  get  stuifed  to 
repletion,  and  grow  sick  at  last,  but  you  do  not 
go  out  and  live  and  work  for  the  glory  of  God 
and  for  the  true  building  of  the  church.  That 
is  why  you  have  been  dismayed  and  troubled. 

In  the  fourth  verse  he  says,  ''Is  it  time  for 
you,  oh  ye,  to  dwell  in  your  ceiled  houses,  and 
this  house  lies  waste?  "  The  object  of  every  true 
convention  or  service  is  that  the  spiritual  house 
of  the  Lord  (Eph.  ii.  19-22)  might  be  built.  If 
you  do  not  serve  the  Lord  night  and  day ;  if  your 
money,  your  thoughts,  your  j)lans,  your  desires 
are  not  Avholly ,  absolutely,  ceaselessly,  consecrated 


88  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

to  building  the  house  of  the  Lord,  no  wonder 
that  the  blessing  of  God  is  not  upon  you.  You 
will  never  have  God's  blessing  while  you  are 
hugging  yourself  with  the  thought,  ' '  I  must  get 
into  the  ceiled  house,  I  must  be  safe.  Am  I 
safe  from  the  devils,  am  I  safe  from  the  foxes, 
am  I  safe  from  the  miasma,  can  I  in  my  family 
be  secure?"  Poor  downtrodden,  disheartened 
Christians  are  always  asking  what  more  they  can 
do  to  get  the  blessing  into  their  homes,  their 
souls,  their  ceiled  houses.  Look  at  the  house  of 
the  Lord,  at  the  church  of  God,  at  the  world 
around  about  you  !  The  church  of  God  ought 
to  stand  with  its  blazing  dome  of  gold  lighted 
up  with  the  light  of  heaven,  to  show  to  the 
heathen  the  glory  of  God.  What  could  the 
prophets  say  of  the  Lord's  chosen  people  who 
had  a  double  deliverance — first,  nationally  from 
Egypt,  and  then  personally  from  Babylon,  when 
they  saw  them  putting  up  cedar  houses,  beauti- 
ful villas  with  an  elegant  landscape  garden, 
and  every  provision  made  for  their  nice  little 
property,  and  their  family  inheritance  which 
they  were  bequeathed  with  such  care.  As  long- 
as  Christians  are  so  careful  about  their  dollars, 
their  homes,  and  their  ceiled  houses,  and  the 
Lord's  house  lies  waste,  there  is  no  blessing  from 
God. 

What  came  to  these  people  in  the  time  of  Hag- 
gai  ?     Though  they  have  had  their  bread,  their 


THE  WAY  OF  BLESSIXG.  89 

liberty,  their  privileges,  their  possibilities,  they 
experienced  seve7i  disaj^pointments  (i.  6-9). 
"Ye  have  sown  much,  and  bring  in  little;  ye 
eat,  but  ye  have  not  enough."  You  go  to  con- 
ventions and  try  to  stuff  your  souls,  but  go  away 
very  heavy.  "  Ye  drink,  but  are  not  tilled  with 
drink ;  ye  clothe  you,  but  there  is  none  warm ; 
and  he  that  earneth  wages,  earneth  wages  to  put 
into  a  bag  with  holes.  .  .  .  Ye  looked  for  much, 
and  lo  !  it  came  to  little  ;  and  when  ye  brought  it 
home,  I  did  blow  upon  it."  You  go  back  to  your 
ceiled  house  in  New  York,  or  Brooklyn,  or  Lon- 
don, and  carry  home  from  your  conventions 
three  or  four  note-books  stuffed  full  with  notes. 
Beloved,  if  you  think  that  because  you  get  a 
sense  of  j)leasure  and  drink  down  the  exhorta- 
tions to  holy  living  without  any  effort  at  all,  you 
are  going  to  gain  much,  you  will  find  that  all  has 
come  to  very  little. 

A  little  child,  a  sweet  little  girl,  sat  playing 
one  day  upon  the  floor  of  a  hall,  in  England, 
where  she  had  just  come  to  stay  with  a  friend, 
and  where  there  was  a  beautiful  ^^dndow  of 
stained  glass.  Suddenly,  the  sun  came  out,  and 
the  whole  floor  was  illuminated  with  beautiful 
colors.  The  child  saw  them  and  uttered  an  ex- 
clamation of  delight.  She  ran  to  the  spot,  and, 
j)ulling  out  her  pocket-handkerchief,  laid  it 
over  the  colors  on  the  floor,  and  the  handker- 
chief took  all  the  colors.       She   folded  it  over 


90  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

three  times  and  said,  ' '  I  will  take  it  to 
mamma."  She  carried  home  the  handkerchief, 
carefully  folded,  and  the  next  day,  pulling  it 
out,  said,  "Mamma,  mamma,  come,  and  I  will 
show  you  such  a  beautiful  thing. ' '  She  opened 
her  handkerchief  and  exclaimed,  "  Oh,  mamma, 
it  is  all  gone !  where  is  it  gone  to  ?  " 

Brethren,  you  cannot  keep  God's  colors  from 
heaven  by  wrapping  them  up  in  a  handker- 
chief. "  Ye  took  it  home,  and  I  did  blow 
upon  it. ' ' 

I  heard  another  story  told  with  great  effect  at 
Keswick  some  years  ago.  One  of  the  speakers 
said  that  he  had  a  friend  in  Ireland  who  was 
always  afraid  of  death,  and  yet  he  was  a  Chris- 
tian who  longed  to  be  nearer  to  God  every  day. 
This  man  said,  "I  don't  know  what  will  happen 
when  I  am  dying,  and  I  think  the  best  way  will 
be  for  me  to  have  a  record  of  my  experiences,  so 
that  when  I  am  dying  I  may  have  them  by  me 
to  help  me  recall  the  goodness  of  the  Lord." 
He  wrote  the  records,  and  when  he  was  dying 
he  told  his  faithful  servant  to  bring  him  his  ex- 
IDeriences,  so  that  he  might  read  them  and  be 
comforted.  The  servant  went  away,  but  re- 
turned after  a  few  minutes  and  exclaimed,  ' '  Oh, 
master,  master,  the  experiences  are  all  gone; 
the  rats  have  eaten  every  one  of  them !  ' ' 

Brethren,  the  rats  will  eat  every  one  of  your 
experiences  if   they  are   all    you   are  going  to 


THE  WAY  OF  BLESSING.  91 

lean  upon.  There  is  this  sevenfold  clisapi:)oint- 
inent  to  the  people  of  God,  who  dwell  in  their 
ceiled  houses  while  the  house  of  God  lies 
waste. 

Now  notice  the  sevenfold  charge  of  God.  (1.) 
Five  times  in  this  one  page  of  prophecy  the  Lord 
says,  "Consider !  "  Twice  it  is,  ''  Consider  your 
ways''  (i.  5,  7),  and  then  it  is  to  Consider  and 
see  what  the  Lord  is  and  what  the  Lord  will  do, 
and  what  the  blessing  of  God  is  meant  to  be 
(ii.  15,  18).  You  must  begin  the  life  of  peace 
and  power  in  the  x)lace  of  privilege.  If  you 
have  entered  the  i:)lace  of  privilege  and  then  go 
back  to  the  old  life,  you  will  have  no  blessing. 
So  the  Lord  begins,  ' '  Consider  your  ways,  your 
will,  your  power,  your  love,  your  purposes." 

But  that  is  not  all.  The  Lord  says  :  (2.)  "  Go 
up  to  the  mountain"  (i.  8).  That  is  to  say,  go 
to  the  place  where  God's  provision  is  ready  for 
you.  You  want  timber  for  the  Lord's  work  to 
build  up  the  Lord's  house ;  you  want  supply,  go 
up  to  the  mountain.  (3.)  "Bring  wood;"  and 
(4.)  "Build  the  house." 

The  next  charge  is  repeated  three  times  over 
(ii.  4),  "Be  strong,  be  strong,  be  strong."  God 
does  not  say  to  go  and  make  yourself  strong, 
but  be  made  strong;  the  Lord  does  the  strength- 
ening. (6.)  "  Work"  (ii.  4),  and  (7.)  "Fear  ye 
not"  (ii.  5). 

Look  at  those  seven  charges  or  encourage- 


92  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

ments.  Consider  your  ways ;  then  consider  the 
Lord ;  consider  Jesus,  the  author  and  fini^ier  of 
our  faith.  When  you  have  considered  well  say, 
' '  The  Lord  has  called  me  out  of  myself  to  his 
work,  to  get  right  out  of  my  ceiled  house.  I 
will  go  to  the  mountain  where  the  provisions  of 
God  are.  You  must  go  and  get  your  supplies. 
God  says,  "Here  is  the  supply,  come  up.'' 
When  Moses  said,  "  I  cannot  meet  this  people,'' 
God  said,  "Come  up  into  the  mountain,"  and 
there  God  showed  him  his  glory  and  gave  him 
his  supply;  the  Lord  gave  him  the  iDattern  of 
the  tabernacle,  he  gave  him  the  strength  and 
said,  ' '  My  presence  shall  go  with  you  and  I  Avill 
give  you  rest."  Moses  went  down  reflecting  the 
glory  of  God.  You  will  never  reflect  the  glory 
of  the  Lord  at  all  if  you  simply  go  home  with 
your  pocket-handkerchief  full  of  reflections. 
But  go  up  into  the  presence  of  the  Lord  on  the 
mountain  and  take  his  supply,  and  go  down 
now  in  all  the  meekness  of  a  servant  and  say, 
^ '  I  am  going  to  build  for  the  Lord ;  he  gives  the 
power,  the  strength,  the  blessing."  Then  when 
you  begin  to  build  you  will  say,  "I  feel  so  weak, 
I  cannot  teach,  I  cannot  work,  I  cannot  speak." 
The  word  will  come,  "Be  strong,  be  strong,  be 
strong  " — Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost  all  speak- 
ing. "Fear  ye  not."  How  good  God  is  !  We 
poor  helpless,  hungering,  doubting,  desponding 
souls,    can  hear   him   saying,    ' '  Consider   your 


THE  WAY  OF  BLESSrXG.  93 

ways,  be  strong,  work,  fear  not,  for  I  am  witli 
you,  saitli  the  Lord/' 

Now  notice  the  seven  promises  of  God. 
Brethren,  these  promises  are  very  beautiful,  but 
to  claim  them  you  must  be  at  the  Lord's  work, 
not  your  own.  All  of  them  contain  the  words, 
"I  will  bless  you" — a  sevenfold  exclamation  of 
my  text:  "From  this  day  will  I  bless  you." 
It  refers  to  the  day  on  which  the  foundation- 
stone  of  the  Lord's  house  was  laid ;  the  twenty- 
fourth  day  of  the  ninth  month,  after  they  had 
been  three  months  and  a  half  listening  to  him. 

The  first  promise,  the  hrst  "I  will,"  of  the 
Lord  is,  "Go  up  to  the  mountain  and  bring 
wood  and  build  the  house ;  and  I  will  take 
pleasure  in  it"  (i.  8).  The  j^leasure  of  the  Lord 
shall  prosi^er  in  your  hands.  The  promise  is  so 
simple,  so  gracious,  so  tender.  You  say,  "Can 
the  Lord  like  my  work?  "  It  is  impossible  with- 
out faith  to  please  him,  but  if  you  have  faith  he 
says,  "  I  will  take  i^leasure  in  it." 

The  second  promise  is  in  the  same  verse,  "I 
will  be  glorified,  saith  the  Lord."  "  Glorify  ye 
the  Lord  in  your  body  and  in  your  spirits  which 
are  his."  You  say,  "What,  a  worm  of  the 
earth  glorify  the  Lord !  "  Yes,  it  is  Avith  the 
"worm  of  the  earth"  that  he  is  going  to  thresh 
the  mountain.  Because  the  Lord  Jesus  humbled 
himself  even  unto  the  dust  to  build  the  house  of 
the  Lord,  God  set  him  at  his  own  right  hand 


94  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

and  gave  him  a  name  that  is  above  every  name, 
you  and  I  are  called  to  the  same  work  and  the 
same  kind  of  a  reward. 

The  third  promise  is  in  the  second  chapter  and 
sixth  verse.  The  Lord  says  first  of  all  what 
view  he  will  take  of  the  work ;  "I  will  like  it 
and  be  glorified  in  it ; ''  now  he  says  what  he 
will  do.  ''  I  will  shake.''  It  is  the  way  he  nn- 
dertakes  to  beat  back  your  enemies ;  whether 
they  are  in  the  heavenly  places,  in  the  sea  or  on 
the  dry  land,  he  will  shake  them  off.  This  very 
verse  is  qnoted  in  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
(xii.  2Q),  when  the  writer  is  telling  of  the  glori- 
ous position  we  have  in  Mount  Zion,  the  new 
Jerusalem.  We  have  come  to  Mount  Zion  that 
we  may  glorify  God,  and  God  says  he  will  shake 
the  heavens  and  the  earth.  When  the  shaking- 
is  ended,  only  the  permanent  things  remain. 
"  Wherefore  we  receiving  a  kingdom  which  can- 
not be  moved,  let  us  have  grace,  whereby  we 
may  serve  God  accej)tably  with  reverence  and 
godly  fear;  for  our  God  is  a  consuming  fire." 
The  very  thing  to  make  us  steadfast  is  the  fact 
that  God  is  going  to  shake  the  shakable  things 
of  the  universe  in  order  that  the  permanent 
things  may  remain. 

The  fourth  promise  is  "  I  will  fill  this  house 
with  glory  "  (ii.  7).  That  was  fulfilled  when  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  came  to  the  second  tem]3le 
and  filled   it  with  his  glory.     The  house  that 


THE  WAY  OF  BLESSING.  95 

was  built  al'tri'wnrd.s  wiis  mIso  to  be  lilled  with 
his  glory.  We  say,  ''l^oor  worms  of  iheeartli 
that  we  are  to  bring  stones  for  God's  house." 
AVe  put  them  together  and  say,  ' '  It  looks  very 
l^oor."  "  I  will  till  this  house  with  glory,  saith 
the  Lord  of  hosts. "  Take  courage,  brother.  It 
is  when  you  have  failed  that  the  Lord  comes. 

Still  further  we  read,  "In  this  place  will  I 
give  peace,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts"  (ii.  9). 
Why  does  He  keep  saying,  "Saith  the  Lord  of 
hosts?  "     It  is  because  he  is  conqueror  of  all. 

God's  sixth  i^romise  is,  "  I  will  overthrow  the 
throne  of  kingdoms,  and  I  will  destroy  the 
strength  of  the  kingdoms  of  the  heathen ;  and  I 
will  overthrow  chariots  and  those  that  ride  in 
them;  and  the  horses  and  their  riders  shall 
come  down,  every  one  by  the  sword  of  his 
brother"  (ii.  22).  When  Jehoshax)liat  went  out 
against  Moab  and  Ammon,  he  did  not  have  to 
kill ;  they  killed  one  another  (II.  Chronicles  xx.) ; 
and  you  and  I  will  not  have  to  kill  our  enemies ; 
they  will  kill  each  other.  Only  go  forward  in 
the  strength  of  the  Lord,  and  he  will  put  the 
enemies  to  Hight. 

The  last  promise  of  the  seven  says,  "  In  that 
day,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  will  I  take  thee 
.  .  .  my  servant  .  .  .  saith  the  Lord,  and  will 
make  thee  as  a  signet;  for  I  have  chosen  thee, 
saith  the  Lord  of  hosts."  Humble  worker 
shrinking  back  fearfully,  do  you  hear  the  words 


96  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

of  the  Lord :  "I  will  take  pleasure  in  it,  I  will 
be  glorified  in  your  poor  work,  I  will  shake  the 
earth  and  the  heavens,  I  will  fill  the  house  with 
glor}^,  I  will  give  peace,  I  will  overthrow  all 
your  enemies,  and  will  make  thee  a  signet  on 
my  right  hand,  for  I  have  chosen  thee." 
Blessed  be  God !     Can  you  doubt  him  now  ? 

Now,  look  at  the  grand  basis  on  which  these 
promises  and  encouragements  are  built.  ' '  Then 
spake  Haggai,  the  Lord's  messenger  in  the  Lord's 
message  unto  the  people,  saying,  ' '  I  am  with 
you,  saith  the  Lord"  (1.  13).  Again,  "  I  am  with 
you,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts  "  (ii.  4);  and  again, 
"  My  Spirit  remaineth  among  you"  (ii.  5).  There 
is  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost — the  Lord,  the 
God  of  heaven,  the  Lord  of  hosts,  the  king  of 
earth,  and  the  Spirit  remaining  always  ready — 
the  mighty  Trinity  in  unity,  undertaking  for  the 
feeble  escaped  remnants,  the  poor  despised 
people.  These  feeble  Jews  built  the  temple  and 
the  city  of  the  Lord  of  hosts.  Will  you  under- 
take your  x)art  in  this  great  work  ?  When  you 
calmly,  meekly  and  humbly  enter  into  covenant, 
and  lay  the  foundation-stone  which  God  calls 
you  to  lay,  he  says  to  you  what  he  says  to  Zer- 
ubbabel  (Zech.  iv.  9):  "The  hands  of  Zerub- 
babel  have  laid  the  foundations  of  this  house ; 
his  hands  shall  also  finish  it;  and  thou  slialt 
know  that  the  Lord  of  hosts  hath  sent  me  unto 
you.     For  who  hath  despised  the  day  of  small 


THE  WAY  OF  BLl-SSTNG.  97 

things?  For  they  shall  rejoice  and  shall  see  the 
pliimniet  in  the  hands  of  Zerubbabel  with  those 
seven;  they  are  the  eyes  of  the  Lord."  We 
take  the  fullness  of  the  Spirit,  not  for  l)lessing, 
peace  and  pleasure,  but  for  power  to  serve  our 
God,  and  as  the  feeble  remnant  put  their  trust 
in  the  Lord,  he  iills  them  to  overllowing  with 
spiritual  power,  and  the  temple  of  the  Lord 
shall  rapidly  be  built,  and  the  last  stone  may 
soon  be  put  in.  Who  shall  put  it  in?  Perhaps 
one  of  us  shall  put  in  the  last  stone  of  that  tem- 
ple with  shoutings  of  "Grace,  grace  unto  it." 
Then  the  Lord  shall  come  and  all  the  saints  with 
him.     Will  you  be  ready? 


HOW  TO  MEET  TEMPTATIOI^. 


"  Though  I  walk  in  the  midst  of  trouble,  Thou  wilt  revive  me ; 
thou  shalt  stretch  forth  thine  hand  against  the  wrath  of  mine  ene- 
mies, and  thy  right  hand  shall  save  me.  The  Lord  Avill  perfect  that 
which  concerneth  me.  Thy  mercy,  O  Lord,  endureth  forever  :  For- 
sake not  the  works  of  thine  own  hands." — Psalm  cxxxviii.  7,  <?. 

Intelligence  is  absolutely  necessary  in  spirit- 
ual matters  as  it  is  in  temporal  affairs.  St.  Paul,  in 
one  of  liis  beautiful  prayers  for  the  Epliesians, 
asks  that  the  eyes  of  their  understanding  may 
be  enlightened,  in  order  tliat  they  may  know 
the  riches  of  the  provision  made  for  men  in  Christ 
Jesus,  and  what  would  be  the  glory  of  his  inherit- 
ance in  the  saints,  if  they  would  only  carry  out 
the  high  purposes  of  God,  which  he  has  revealed 
in  his  Son.  God  deals  with  us  according  to  our 
spiritual  purpose  and  earnestness,  and  in  propor- 
tion as  we  seek  to  realize  our  high  inheritance 
of  reason  as  well  as  of  grace,  God  Avill  bless  us  in 
this  world  of  temptation  and  trial. 

It  is  easy  to  say,  "  Thank  God,  I  am  saved 
through  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  and  I  need  not 
fear  God's  wrath  or  man's  temptation;  God  will 
keep  me  safely,  because  he  has  x)rovided  a  way 


irO]r  TO  MEET  TEMPT  A  TTON.  99 

of  salvation  for  me  in  (!hnst  Jesus/'  Remem- 
ber that  ^\ilile  salvation  liangs  absolutely  and 
solely  upon  the  free  grace  of  (iod,  the  iinal  and 
apparent  enjoyment  of  God  hangs  distinctly 
upon  the  measure  of  our  spiritual  apprehension 
and  understanding  of  the  things  which  (rod  offers 
to  the  true  believer  in  his  Son.  Therefore,  it  is 
by  no  means  unimportant  for  us  to  ask  oui'selves 
again  and  again,  Avhat  have  we  apprehended  of 
Christy  Even  after  St.  Paul  had  been  a  Christian 
for  over  thirty  years,  and  had  been  a  man  of 
most  remarkable  progress  in  spiritual  apprehen- 
sion and  enjoyment,  he  writes  to  the  Philippi- 
ans  that  he  does  not  at  all  profess  to  have  appre- 
hended that  for  which  he  was  apprehended  of 
God  in  Christ  Jesus.  We  are  apprehended  of 
God  in  Christ  for  vast  blessings,  vast  privileges, 
vast  possibilities,  not  only  in  the  eternal  glory 
after  we  have  done  with  temptation,  but  in  the 
present  sphere  of  perpetual  temptation.  This 
is  no  mere  metaphysical  distinction,  but  is  of 
tremendous  practical  importance. 

The  Lord's  Prayer  is  perhaps  one  of  the  brief- 
est we  could  be  called  upon  to  utter  in  the  pres- 
ence of  our  Father  in  Heaven ;  it  is  also  the  full- 
est that  can  be  formed  by  human  lips,  or  put 
forth  in  human  language.  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
said,  ''After  this  manner  pray  ye."  He  also 
said,  ''  When  ye  pray,  say  "  Our  Father,  which 
is  in  Heaven."     Therefore,  it  is  a  model  form  in 


100  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

which  true  Christians  should  be  constantly  pray- 
ing. ' '  Lead  us  not  into  temptation,  but  deliver 
us  from  evil,"  is  sufficient  for  a  petition,  but  it 
is  not  sufficient  merely  to  say  it.  We  must  in- 
telligently apprehend  what  it  means.  The 
Christian  church  is  continually  falling  under  the 
pressure  of  temptation  from  different  quarters. 
Christians  too  often  fall  because  they  never  pause 
to  consider  whether  all  this  temptation  which 
crushes  them  comes  from  the  same  enemy,  the 
same  source,  or  if  there  are  different  forms  of 
temptation  from  different  sources.  It  behooves 
us  to  understand  whence  these  different  forms  of 
temi^tation  come,  in  what  way  they  will  present 
themselves  to  the  soul,  how  they  will  injure  it, 
and  how  these  particular  forms  of  temptation 
may  successfully  be  met. 

Now,  it  is  perfectly  certain  that  all  temptation 
comes  from  the  enemy.  God  tempteth  no  man, 
says  St.  James,  neither  can  he  be  tempted  with 
evil.  He  tries  his  children,  as  he  tried  Abra- 
ham. The  same  word  is  used,  both  in  Hebrew 
and  Greek,  to  express  different  forms  of  tempta- 
tion or  trial.  When  we  are  tried  it  is  to  bring 
out  that  which  is  good ;  when  we  are  temjDted  it 
is  to  lead  us  into  that  which  is  evil.  God  must 
try  his  creatures  in  order  to  prove  that  they  are 
good;  the  devil  tempts  the  creature  to  see  if  it 
be  possible  to  lead  the  creature  aAvay  from  God, 
and  to   bring  that  creature  under  his  own  des- 


IT(}]V  TO   MEET  TEMPTATION.  IQl 

potic  authoi-ity.     It  is  one  thing  to  be  innocent; 
it  is  another  thing   to  be  virtiions.     It  is  one 
thing  to  be  like  Achun,  crented  after  the  image 
of  Clod  in  perfect  purity  and  simplicity;  it  is 
another  thing  to  be  like   the  perfected  Christ, 
who  was  tried  and  tempted  in  all  points  like  as 
we  are,  yet  without  sin.  Remember  that  while  the 
blood  of   Jesus  Christ  cleanses  us  from  all  sin, 
conformity  to  the  image  of  Christ,  wrought  in 
ns  by   the  Holy  Spirit,  means   that   we,  being 
changed  from  glory  to  glory,  may  become  like 
the  Son  of  God,  and  at  last  be  actually  one  with 
him,  seeing  him  as  he  is,  and  being  exact  fac- 
similes of  his  perfect  image.     If  we  could  only 
apprehend  this,  it  would  change  all  our  thoughts 
about  the  life  we  are  living ;  we  should  feel  that 
there  is  not  a  moment,  not  a  talent,  not  a  possi- 
bility of  our  being   that  should   not   be  conse- 
crated entirely  to  God,  and  that  should  not  be 
rendered  in  tender,  grateful,  humble  submission 
to  his  authority ;  Ave  should  feel  that  we  could 
not  afford  to  go  out  into  the  world  and  engage 
in  its  pleasures,  its  pursuits,  and  its  ambitions, 
not  because  we  have  not  the  money,  but  because 
we  cannot  afford-  the  peril,  the  temptation,  the 
risk  to  the  soul's  peace  and  progress.     Our  ambi- 
tion, our  pleasure  should  be  to  get  nearer  to  God. 
Until    such    a    heavenly    as2)iration     tills     our 
souls,  we  are  not  even  attempting  to  apprehend 
that  for  which  we  are  apprehended  in  Christ 


102  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

Jesus.  It  is  one  tiling  to  be  innocent,  clean, 
spotless;  it  is  another  thing  to  be  powerful, 
great,  and  glorious  in  the  sight  of  God  and  in  the 
face  of  our  enemies. 

We  should  apprehend  that  our  high  calling 
of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  is  that  we  be  li/ie  Tdm  hi 
everything;  not  only  pure  and  spotless  as 
Adam  was  before  he  sinned,  but  virtuous.  Vir- 
tue is  tested  morality,  it  is  i^ower  proved,  it  is 
the  capabilities  of  the  soul  exercised  until  the 
qualities  and  the  graces  with  which  a  man  is 
endowed,  come  out  into  actual  exhibition.  God 
has  called  us  out  of  darkness  into  his  marvel- 
ous light  that  we  might  exhibit  Christ's  virtues 
(I.  Peter  ii.  9).  You  do  not  prove  the  virtue 
in  a  machine  until  you  test  it,  and  show  the  pub- 
lic that  it  actually  answers  the  purpose  of  the 
inventor.  You  do  not  prove  the  intelligence  or 
virtue  of  a  child  simply  by  making  it  sit  still 
and  smile.  You  must  exhibit  the  iDowers  of 
body,  brain,  and  heart  before  the  neighbors,  if 
you  Avish  to  prove  that  your  child  has  peculiar 
graces,  excellencies,  and  powers.  So  it  is  with 
the  child  of  God ;  he  must  expect  trial  in  order 
to  develop  and  exhibit  virtue.  We  have  many 
enemies  x)resenting  to  us  different  forms  of 
temptation,  which  Ave  can  meet  intelligently  and 
poAverfully  only  in  i)roportion  as  Ave  understand 
from  Avhence  the  temptation  comes,  and  Iioav  in 
each  case  that  temptation  is  to  be  overcome. 


HOW  TO  MKF.T  TEMPT ATTON.  103 

First  with  regard  to  our  enp:mii:s.  Have  you 
ever  noticed  tlie  strikingly  solemn  way  in  wiiicli 
the  different  authors  of  the  Psalms  were  led  to 
think  about  their  enemies?  These  w^ere,  for  the 
most  i)art,  physical  enemies,  hostile  forces  of  a 
human  form.  Yet  no  less  than  forty-two  times 
in  the  Psalms  alone  do  we  iind  the  words  my  or 
"  mine  enemies,"  besides  the  many  occasions  in 
which  they  speak  of  their  enemies,  thine  ene- 
ndes,  enemies  and  enemy  in  general.  Do  you 
not  see  at  once  that  the  writers  of  those  Psalms 
mnst  have  had  a  very  solemn  appreciation  of 
the  fact  that  they  were  living  in  the  presence  of 
and  in  danger  from  very  great  enemies  ?  To  them 
they  were  awfully  real  and  really  awful,  and  yet 
they  were  only  physical  enemies.  How  much 
more  then  to  realize  that  we  have  great  enemies 
in  the  spiritual  domain,  and  that  they  are  ever 
around  us  and  upon  us,  and  have  peculiar 
force  to  use  against  our  jioor  souls. 

Praise  be  to  God,  even  in  the  Old  Testament 
dispensation  we  find  the  Psalmists  sj)eaking 
calmly  of  their  enemies,  and  glorying  in  the 
fact  that  they  have  a  grand  deliverer.  In  nearly 
every  case  where  you  find  the  words  "mine 
enemies,"  you  find  "deliverer"  or  some  kin- 
dred word.*  Take  for  instance:  "Though  I 
walk  in  the  midst  of  trouble,  thou  wilt  revive 


*  Look  also  in  Psalm  cxliii.  3,  11,  12;  cxlii.6,  7;   xxv.  2,  19,  21 ;    xxvii.  2, 6, 
11-14. 


104  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

me ;  tlion  slialt  stretch  forth  thine  hand  against 
the  wrath  of  mine  enemies,  and  thy  right  hand 
shall  save  me."     What  confidence  we  see  there. 

Take  another  passage,  Psahn  xxiii.  5  :  "Tlion 
preparest  a  table  before  me  in  the  presence 
of  mine  enemies."  That  is  a  blessed  thought. 
Let  the  enemies  come  in  all  their  power 
and  seem  to  be  surrounding  you,  so  that  there 
is  no  escape,  the  Lord  calmly  prex)ares  a  table, 
and  you  sit  down  and  enjoy  your  food  in  the 
very  presence  of  your  enemies.  Take  one 
more,  because  it  is  so  beautiful;  the  great 
Psalm  of  the  Deliverer,  xviii.  3,  37,  40,  48,  50. 
No  less  than  seven  times  in  that  one  Psalm 
you  have  deliver,  delivered,  or  delivers;  but 
what  do  you  read  about  your  enemies ?  "I 
will  call  upon  the  Lord,  who  is  worthy  to  be 
praised :  so  shall  I  be  saved  from  mine  ene- 
mies. ...  I  have  pursued  mine  enemies 
and  overtaken  them :  neither  did  I  turn  again 
until  they  were  consumed.  .  .  .  Thou  hast 
also  given  me  the  necks  of  mine  enemies,  that  I 
might  destroy  them  that  hate  me.  ...  He 
delivereth  me  from  mine  enemies :  yea,  thou 
lifteth  me  above  those  that  rise  up  against  me : 
thou  hast  delivered  me  from  the  violent  man. 

.  .  Great  deliverance  giveth  he."  Seethe 
great  deliverance  which  the  Lord  gives  to  his 
anointed.  That  Psalm  is  the  Psalm  of  the  De- 
liverer, coux)led  Avitli  the  fact  of  the  i3resence  of 


now  TO   MEET  TEMPTATION.  105 

the  enemies;  and  though  the  man  knows  that 
his  enemies  are  there,  he  is  sure  of  deliverance ; 
he  is  confident  of  protection,  but  he  intelligently 
looks  to  the  Lord,  and  claims  in  the  Lord  a 
rock,  a  strength,  a  buttress,  a  fortress,  every- 
thing that  is  required. 

Now  notice  how  the  Lord  is  a  buttress  and  a 
fortress,  a  protector  and  a  shield  against  all 
the  assaiilts  of  our  enemies,  if  we  rightly  under- 
stand what  those  enemies  are.  We  turn  to  the 
spiritual  domain,  l)ut  let  me  use  the  physical 
enemies  of  Israel  as  an  illustration  of  the  way 
in  which  God  i^ermits  the  enemies  to  make 
attacks,  and  yet  frustrates  every  one  of  those 
attacks,  so  long  as  his  peoi)le  trust  in  him. 

First,  Avliat  are  the  for.als  of  temptation 
which  array  themselves  as  the  enemies  of  the 
Christian  ?  The  five  great  enemies  that  attempt 
to  injure  the  believer  are  sin,  the  flesh,  the 
world,  the  devil  and  death.  Each  of  these  pre- 
sents totally  different  forms  of  temptation  to  the 
believer,  and  seeks  to  captivate  us  by  totally  dif- 
ferent lines  of  action,  and  we  cannot  intelligently 
meet  these  different  foes  until  we  apprehend  the 
means  of  deliverance  which  God  has  provided 
for  us  in  Christ  Jesus.  Remember,  however, 
that  no  man,  as  long  as  he  lives  in  the  mortal 
body,  is  ever  free  from  the  presence  of  his  ene- 
mies. We  are  delivered  out  of  the  hand  of 
those  enemies,  but  are  not  delivered  from  their 


106  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

existence,  and  to  say  that  sin  or  deatli,  or  2inj 
other  foe  no  longer  presses  upon  a  man's  soul, 
is  to  falsify  every  statement  of  Scripture  and 
every  experience  of  the  true  believer.  That  is 
neither  more  nor  less  than  the  devil's  own  lie,  to 
persuade  a  soul  that  this  is  a  dispen'sation  of 
extinction;  it  is  only  a  disi3ensation  of  subjuga- 
tion. There  is  no  extinction  of  any  temptation 
or  enemy  that  brings  temptation,  but  there  is, 
blessed  be  God,  a  i3erpetual  deliverance  in  the 
spiritual  domain  as  there  was  intended  to  be  for 
Israel  in  the  temporal  or  x)hysical  domain.  Be 
ing  delivered  out  of  the  hand  of  our  enemies, 
they  have  no  power  or  claim  over  us  lawfully ; 
we  are  set  free  from  all  of  them.  Gfod  does  not 
intend  his  people  ever  to  be  overcome, — ''  more 
than  conquerors  through  him  that  loved  us,"  is 
intended  to  be  the  experience,  moment  by  mo- 
ment, of  every  true  child  of  God.  Unconsciously 
we  may  yield  to  forms  of  temptation  of  which 
w^e  do  not  know  the  meaning  or  existence.  This 
is  the  sin  of  a  true,  faithful  child  of  God.  He  is 
limited  not  only  in  his  ability  but  in  his  knowl- 
edge ;  because  of  the  infirmity  of  his  nature  he 
cannot  know  yet  as  he  is  known.  But  blessed 
be  God,  the  blood  of  Christ  is  cleansing  every 
moment,  so  that  if  a  child  of  God  dies  at  any 
moment  the  blood  cleanses,  and  by  God's  grace, 
not  on  our  own  merit,  we  pass  into  the  presence 
of  God  spotlessly  pure.    Remember  that,  because 


now  TO   MEET  TE^IPTATION.  107 

there  are  two  forms  of  subtle  temptation.  One 
is  to  ask  wliat  is  tlie  <;()()(1  of  the  Lord  Jesiis 
being  a  perfect  Saviour  if  lie  does  not  i)erfe(^tly 
keep?  The  answer  is  that  he  never  professed  to 
keep  you  i)erfectly,  but  only  according  to  your 
faith.  The  other  question  is,  if  I  am  perpetu- 
ally sinning,  what  is  the  good  of  claiming  holi- 
ness from  him?  God  never  said  there  w^ould  be 
I)erfect  holiness,  but  that  there  would  be  perfect 
keeping  according  to  the  measure  of  your  faith 
and  trust.  As  I  once  said  to  Mrs.  Booth,  '^  You 
preach  a  perfect  sinner,  but  I  preach  a  perfect 
Saviour. ' ' 

As  to  the  forms  of  temptation  let  us  first  deal 
with  what  is  known  as  shi.  Sin  is  totally  dis- 
tinct from  sins.  Sins  are  never  embodied  as  a 
foe ;  they  are  spoken  of  as  an  outcome  of  sin, 
the  works  which  we  have  j)roduced.  All  the 
sins  of  a  true  believer  are  washed  away  by  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb,  but  there  still  remains  the 
old  evil  iDart  called  sin,  which  is  personified  by 
the  Apostle  Paul  in  Romans,  sixth  and  seventh 
chapters.  This  sin,  as  a  personified  force  in  me, 
means,  I  think,  that  old,  evil  taskmaster  wdiicli 
dominates  every  child  of  Adam  from  the  mo- 
ment that  our  first  parents  fell  in  the  Garden  of 
Eden  until  the  soul  is  delivered  by  regeneration 
and  by  the  indwelling  of  Christ.  We  are  always 
in  the  presence  of  temptation  from  sin.  As 
a  taskmaster    sin    no    longer    stands    over    the 


108  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

believer,  but  is  still  always  pressing  uiDon  us  as 
an  enemy  seeking  to  lead  us  into  evil.  But  we 
have  a  perfect  Saviour  and  a  perfect  deliverance 
to  the  extent  of  our  knowledge,  our  faith  and 
our  trust  in  the  Lord  Jesus ;  beyond  that  I  know^ 
of  no  perfection,  therefore  nothing  that  we  bring 
forth  is  perfect  in  itself  ~ 

Sin  is  a  dominating  influence  that  once  held 
absolute  sw^ay  over  the  child  of  Adam ;  but  the 
moment  that  child  of  Adam  is  regenerated  by 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  admitted  into  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  he  has  died  unto  sin.  Men  say 
that  they  are  dead  to  sin  because  the  Avords  in 
Romans  vi.  and  Colossians  iii.  are  translated, 
"  Ye  are  dead ;  "  but  the  Greek  is,  "You  died." 
They  refer  not  to  a  state  at  the  present  moment, 
but  to  an  act  performed  for  us  by  Christ  Jesus. 
By  virtue  of  his  death  upon  Calvary's  cross,  we 
by  inclusion  died  in  him,  because  he  died  as  if 
he  were  all  of  us  in  one.  We  do  not  experience 
a  sense  of  death  for  Ave  have  none  of  the  dying 
to  do ;  it  Avas  done.  Christ  died  so  as  to  have 
done  Avith  sin,  and  to  give  us  the  same  position 
and  the  same  appreciation  of  the  position  AA^hich 
he  occupies  and  enjoys,  namely,  that  Ave  have 
been  released  from  the  poAver  and  domination  of 
sin  as  a  slave-master.  St.  Paul  says  again  and 
again  that  he  is  freed  from  sin,  freed  from  the 
condemnation,  and  also  from  the  task-power  of 
sin   (Romans  vi.    7,  18).      He   goes   on   to   say 


now  TO  MEET  TE.VPTATrOX.  109 

(Roiiinns  vii.)  tliat  sin  as  a  present  pressing  force 
came  upon  liis  soul  once  when  he  was  under  the 
law,  and  sin  revived  and  he  died.  Then  he 
says,  "  If  I  do  anything  wrong,  now  that  I  have 
come  to  appreciate  Christ,  if  I  am  led  to  do  any- 
tliing  evil  by  the  pressure  of  sin,  it  is  no  more  I, 
but  sin  that  dwelleth  in  me."  lie  asks,  "What 
is  to  be  done?  How  am  I  to  get  free  from  the 
power  of  this  awful  temptation?  Thanks  be  to 
God,"  he  says,  "I  thank  God,  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord."  He  takes  bold  of  the  truth 
that  once  for  all  he  has  been  delivered  from  that 
fearful  bondage,  that  terrible  task-powder,  which 
sin  had  over  him  in  Adam's  state,  and  now  hav- 
ing been  put  into  Christ,  he  is  a  delivered  soul. 
Now  in  order  to  make  this  doctrinal  state- 
ment experimental,  see  the  illustration  of  this 
in  the  ejcperience  of  the  children  of  Israel. 
Egypt  represents  sin  as  a  taskmaster  that  tries 
to  hold  the  children  of  Adam.  God  delivered 
the  children  of  Israel  from  Egypt  by  giving 
them  that  passage  through  the  Red  Sea,  and 
then  by  drowning  their  present  pressing  task- 
masters who  followed  them.  They  were  thus 
forever  set  free  from  the  power  of  tlie  Egyptian 
taskmasters.  Nothing  could  lead  them  back 
into  slavery  in  Egypt  except  their  own  free  will. 
God  caused  the  Red  Sea  to  roll  between  them 
and  their  foes,  and  they  were  actually  delivered, 
so  as  to  be  in  God's  charge  if  they  would  only 


110  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

face  God's  lioliness  at  Mount  Sinai.  The  mo- 
ment you  are  saved  from  your  enemy,  you  must 
be  prepared  to  see  end  wallv  according  to  the 
holiness  of  God  henceforth.  If  the  children  of 
Israel  had  been  ready  to  live  according  to  the 
holiness  of  God,  they  need  never  have  stood  in 
fear  of  Egypt,  their  old  taskmaster,  as  long  as 
their  nation  existed.  But  they  chose  to  serve 
other  gods,  and  so  in  the  days  of  the  kings  the 
Egyptian  forces  came  into  the  land  of  the  people 
of  God  again  and  again,  and  God  said  that  he 
would  let  them  go  back  into  Egypt  simply  be- 
cause they  would  not  walk  in  the  holiness  of 
God.  You  have  been  set  free;  and  are  to  be 
forever  for  God,  and  not  to  fear  your  old  ene- 
mies or  to  meddle  with  sin. 

How  shall  we  meet  sin  when  it  rises  up  and 
says  :  "You  are  my  slave ;  you  say  you  are  free 
from  the  wrath  of  God  and  the  power  of  sin,  but 
I  claim  you  as  mine."  You  know  the  force  of 
the  temptation  to  say:  ''I  cannot  face  it;  I 
have  not  the  courage ;  I  am  afraid. ' '  What  right 
have  you  to  be  afraid?  "  Fear  ye  not ;  "  that  is 
the  privilege  of  the  true  believer.  "  Be  strong, 
fear  ye  not  for  I  am  with  thee. ' '  The  moment 
the  old  evil  power  comes  and  says  :  ' '  You  know 
that  you  were  a  [slave  to  that  lust,  you  could 
not  resist  it ;  you  were  a  drunkard,  and  you  are 
my  slave ; ' '  then  look  up  into  the  face  of  God 
and  say,  confidently :    "By  the  grace  of  God  I 


now  TO  MEET  TEMPTATION.  HI 

am  whnt  I  am,  and  liis  grace  which  was  be- 
stowed upon  me  was  not  in  vain,  so  that  I  am 
delivered." 

This  temptation  from  the  ohl  taskmaster,  sin, 
is  one  thing  tliat  causes  the  chihl  of  God  to  fall 
so  often.  They  thought  tliat  tlieyhad  the  liberty 
and  freedom  of  the  children  of  God,  but  the  first 
time  they  passed  the  old  temptation,  they  said, 
''  Oh,  my  God,  I  cannot  resist;  "  and  they  fell. 
They  have  not  apprehended  that  for  which  they 
were  api^rehended  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  to 
live  a  life  delivered  from  the  pressure  of  the  old 
taskmaster,  and  given  absolutel}^  unto  God.  I 
tried  for  two  years  to  feel  dead  unto  sin,  and  I 
never  experienced  the  liberty  which  that  thought 
ought  to  bring  until  I  suddenly  saw  the  other 
side,  ''1  will  live  unto  God."  The  right  hand  of 
the  Lord  has  dashed  in  pieces  our  enemy,  sin 
(Exodus  XV.  1-10),  and  when  the  old  enemy  says, 
•^ '  I  will  iDursue ;  I  will  follow  after ;  ...  I 
will  overtake,  I  will  divide  the  spoil ;  my  lust 
shall  be  satisfied  upon  them  ;  "  say,  with  Moses, 
^'Tliou  didst  blow  with  thy  wind,  tlie  sea  cov- 
ered them ;  they  sank  as  lead  in  the  mighty 
waters."  Claim  an  accomplished  deliverance 
through  the  death  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and 
the  resurrection  power  which  leads  us  to  God. 

Second,  how  shall  we  meet  the  temptation 
that  conies  from  the  flesh  f  The  flesli  is  quite 
distinct  from   sin ;    it   is   the   medium    through 


112  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

wliich  sin  leads  us  into  captivity.  It  is  the  force 
within  us  which  constantly  inclines  us  to  evil ; 
it  is  that  lower  part  of  our  nature  Avhich  has 
come  into  the  domination  of  sin  and  the  devil 
from  the  moment  that  Adam  and  Eve  fell,  and 
which  has  held  us  captives  with  regard  to  our 
l)eace  of  mind,  our  appetites,  tastes,  and  desires, 
until  we  are  brought  into  Christ  Jesus  and 
become  new  creatures  in  him.  This  tiesli  is  a 
perpetual,  subtle  pressure  from  within,  quite  dis- 
tinct from  anything  that  oppresses  us  from  with- 
out. It  claims  to  have  opportunities  for  gratiii- 
cation  to  present  to  us,  to  have  pleasant  things 
that  shall  satisfy,  comfort,  and  cheer  us.  The 
temptation  is  very  great  and  very  real,  and  may 
be  expected  to  last  to  the  very  end  of  our  exist- 
ence ujDon  earth. 

St.  Paul  carefully  distinguishes  between  the 
flesh  and  the  Spirit.  He  says  that  the  moment 
we  are  born  again  as  children  of  God,  so  that 
we  can  cry  ' '  Abba  Father, ' '  a  new  spirit  of 
life  is  introduced  into  us,  and  henceforth  we 
have  two  forces  working  within  us  and  seeking 
to  draw  us — the  one  called  the  Spirit  and  the 
other  the  flesh.  ''The  flesh  lusteth  against  the 
Spirit,  and  the  Spirit  against  the  flesh  "  (Gal.  v. 
17).  God  claims  us  on  the  one  hand,  and  on 
the  other  the  personified  evil  thing  called  the 
flesh  claims  us,  and  says,  "You  have  always 
been  mine,  why  turn  from  me  ?     I  offer  you  ease. 


no  W  TO  M  PJh'T  TEMPT.  1  TTO  X.  1 1 3 

I  offer  you  pleasure,  I  offer  you  satisfaction. 
Why  stru<>-,<>-le  against  your  appetites,  they  are 
your  natui'al  instincts?  Wliy  should  a  man  not 
take  a  drink,  and  enjoy  sowing  his  wild  oats? 
AYhy  should  he  not  have  a  little  pleasure  in  this 
world?  Why  shoukl  he  think  that  his  appetites 
are  wrong,  because  they  bring  satisfaction  to  the 
flesh?"  Why?  Because  being  set  free  from  our 
old  taskmaster,  sin,  and  being  taken  into  the  death 
of  Christ,  and  into  the  life  of  Christ,  we  belong- 
to  God,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  has  come  into  us  to 
give  us  a  different  life.  Instead  of  being  ruled 
by  the  old  evil  appetites  that  gave  us  an  inherit- 
ance of  evil,  we  should  learn  to  live  unto  God. 
The  body  as  well  as  the  mind,  the  mind  as  well 
as  the  heart,  the  heart  as  well  as  the  spirit 
should  all  be  brought  into  subjection  to  God,  so 
that  we  are  no  longer  to  let  the  old  appetites 
work,  but  are  to  allow  the  spirit,  which  lusts 
against  the  flesh,  to  1)ring  us  into  the  heavenly 
life. 

Look  at  the  appetites  called  fleshly  indul- 
gencies:  ease,  carnality,  covetousness,  i^ride. 
These  are  the  works,  not  the  fruits  of  the  flesh. 
St.  James  says  that  we  are  tempted  when  we  are 
drawn  aside  by  lust,  and  "when  lust  hath  con- 
ceived it  bringeth  forth  sin,  and  sin  Avhen  it  is 
finished  (full  grown)  bringeth  forth  death."  It 
must  bring  death,  because  it  separates  us  from 
God. 


114  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

How  are  we  to  meet  these  temptations  wliicli 
come  from  within,  and  are  essentially  the  temp- 
tations of  the  old  natnre  within  us?  The  an- 
swer is  in  every  part  of  the  writings  of  St.  Paul, 
that  we  walk  not  in  the  flesh,  but  give  ourselves 
over  to  the  Spirit  to  walk  in  the  Spirit.  The  mo- 
ment that  we  recognize  a  pressure  of  lust  or  temp- 
tation to  sellishness,  or  temper,  or  fretting,  we 
must  realize  that  our  life  is  to  be  lived  unto  God, 
and  that  our  hearts  are  to  be  set  upon  things 
above.  This  is  what  St.  Paul  means  when  he  says 
that  if  we  are  risen  with  Christ,  we  should  set 
our  affections,  our  desires  upon  the  things  of 
God  which  are  above  with  Christ  at  the  right 
hand  of  God  the  Father  (Col.  iii.  1,  2).  You 
died  in  order  that  you  might  live  a  new  life. 
Live  that  life!  How?  By  determinedly  giving 
yourselves  over  every  moment  to  the  indwelling 
power  of  God,  and  no  longer  yielding  to  the  lust 
within  you. 

Look  again  at  the  exx)erience  of  the  people  of 
Israel.  We  read  in  Exodus  xii.  38,  that  "a 
great  multitude — a  great  mixture — went  up  also 
with  them."  On  the  night  of  their  deliverance 
from  Egypt  they  went  up  a  mixed  x)eople  when 
they  should  have  gone  up  a  powerful  people. 
We  read  later  in  JN'umbers  xi.  4,  that  ''  the  mixed 
multitude  that  was  among  them  fell  a  lusting : 
and  the  children  of  Israel  also  wept  again." 
They  allowed  themselves  to  be  led  by  a  mixed 


now  TO  MEET  TEMPTATION.  115 

nmltitu(l('  into  tliis  passion.  They  said,  ''  Who 
shall  give  us  tiesh  to  eat?  AVe  remember  the 
fish  Avhich  we  did  eat  freely  in  Egypt;  the  cu- 
cumbers, and  the  melons,  and  the  leeks,  and  the 
onions,  and  the  garlic;  l)ut  now  our  soul  is  dried 
away ;  there  is  nothingat  all, beside  this  manna, be- 
fore our  eyes. ' '  The  children  of  God  are  too  often 
to-day  led  by  the  mixed  multitude  to  think  that 
the  things  which  God  provides  are  not  enough  to 
give  satisfaction  and  comfort  and  pleasure.  The 
mixed  multitude  say,  "You  know  you  had 
pleasure  in  the  world  when  you  were  in  bondage 
to  sin,  you  liked  the  things  you  had,  those 
onions  and  cucumbers  and  melons. ' '  The  pressure 
is  upon  you  as  it  was  upon  the  children  of  Israel, 
because  you  have  a  divided  heart,  because  your 
soul  is  not  given  over  entirely  to  God.  When  the 
mind  and  heart  and  spirit  shall  all  be  given  over 
to  God  the  Holy  Ghost,  then  we  shall  no  longer 
have  mixed  ideas  within,  and  the  temptation  of 
the  flesh,  but  we  shall  wholly  yield  to,  and  live 
in,  the  Spirit  of  God.  Whether  our  temptations 
of  the  flesh  take  the  form  of  gross  passion,  or  of 
self-assertion,  self-conceit,  and  self-satisfaction, 
they  are  to  be  met  by  this,  "I  am  alive  unto 
God,  I  belong  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  I  must  give 
myself  over  to  him,  and  walk  in  the  Spirit." 
St.  Paul  says,  "If  ye  live  in  the  Spirit,  then 
Avalk  in  the  Spirit ;  and  as  many  as  walk  in  the 
Spirit,  let  them  be  led  by  the  Spirit." 


IIG  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

The  third  temptation  comes  from  tJie  world 
which  represents  three  things.  St.  John  says 
(I.  ii.  16),  "All  that  is  in  the  world,  the  lust  of 
the  flesh,  and  the  lust  of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride 
of  life,  is  not  of  the  Father,  but  is  of  the  world." 
Here  men's  lust  of  the  flesh  is  described  as  the 
world.  The  lust  of  the  flesh  in  the  world  is  very 
different  from  the  lust  of  the  flesh  in  us.  The 
one  is  internal,  the  other  external.  A  man  who 
has  an  impure  thought  and  is  alone  with  himself 
in  a  dark  room,  still  has  the  impure  thought  be- 
fore him.  The  more  he  thinks  of  it,  the  worse 
it  becomes ;  he  cannot  escape  from  it,  except  by 
the  ai^prehension  of  something  holy  in  place  of 
something  unholy.  He  can  only  escai^e  by 
thinking  of  Christ,  of  God,  and  his  deliverance ; 
he  will  find  deliverance  from  the  evil  by  the 
introduction  of  the  good. 

The  lust  of  the  flesh  in  the  world  is  very  dif- 
ferent ;  it  is  something  external,  such  as  a  vile 
picture,  or  the  odor  of  liquor — anything  which 
seeks  to  draw  a  man  into  the  act  of  evil.  A 
man  who  sees  an  imx:)ure  play  in  a  theater  is 
tempted  from  without,  rather  than  from  within, 
until  his  own  passion  is  aroused  and  he  commits 
sin.  There  must,  therefore,  be  a  totally  differ- 
ent way  of  meeting  this  temx^tation  from  the 
way  of  meeting  that  from  within. 

Now,  what  are  we  to  do  with  the  temptation 
from  without,  that  appeals  to  the  eye  and  ear 


HO  W  TO  MEET  TEMPT  A  TION.  \  1  7 

and  iiiind?  li'  sonielxxly  tells  me  an  indelicate 
story  or  shows  me  an  impure  i)icture,  and  so 
offers  a  temptation  to  the  hist  of  the  flesh,  how 
am  I  to  meet  it?  The  devil  said  to  the  Lord 
Jesus,  "If  you  will  fall  down  and  w^orship  me,  T 
will  give  you  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  wTuid.'' 
That  was  a  temptation  through  the  eye.  When 
he  said,  ' '  Take  that  stone  and  make  it  bread ;  " 
that  was  a  temptation  through  the  lust  of  the 
flesh  from  without.  Then  tempting  Jesus 
through  the  juide  of  life,  he  said:  ''You  can 
fall  down  from  this  pinnacle  because  God  hath 
said  that  he  will  give  his  angels  charge  over 
you ;  you  need  not  be  afraid  because  .you  are 
God's  son."  So  through  the  pride  of  life  we 
are  tempted  to  say,  "I  can  go  into  places  dan- 
gerous to  my  soul,  though  others  could  not."  I 
have  known  many  a  man  to  say,  ''  I  can  go  into 
society,  others  cannot;  but  I  can  go  without 
any  harm."  They  fall  as  Jesus  would  have 
fallen  if  he  had  not  looked  up  to  God  and  said, 
"It  is  written,  Thou  slialt  not  tempt  the  Lord 
thy  Go?l." 

Here  are  the  three  forms  of  temptation  in  the 
world  :  the  lust  of  the  flesh  that  seeks  to  kindle 
passion  within  me  through  presenting  some- 
thing pleasant  to  the  body ;  the  lust  of  the  eye 
that  seeks  to  kindle  an  evil  desire  by  presenting 
something  attractive  to  the  sight;  the  pride  of 
life  that  would  make  me  lean  upon  self  where  I 


118  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

ought  to  depend  upon  God,  and  not  go  into 
temptation.  When  there  is  a  pressure  within,  I 
can  only  escape  by  presenting  a  holy  thought 
instead  of  an  evil  one.  When  there  is  a  press- 
ure from  Avithout,  we  are  bound  to  do  exactly  as 
God  commanded  Israel  to  do  with  regard  to 
Moab,  Amnion,  and  Edom,  who  clearly  represent 
to  Israel  what  the  lust  of  the  flesh  in  the  world, 
the  lust  of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride  of  life  repre- 
sent to  us. 

Moab  and  Amnion  were  the  children  born  of 
incest  between  Lot  and  his  daughters,  and  were 
akin  in  a  carnal  manner  to  Isaac  and  Jacob  and 
the  children  of  Israel.  Edom  is  the  brother  of 
Jacob,  but  the  carnal  brother,  who  marries  into 
the  world  and  gives  himself  over  to  carnality. 
These  three  are  linked  together  at  least  fifty 
times  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  always  with  the 
same  idea.  I^otice  how  God  taught  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  to  treat  these  three  foes,  and  learn 
how  to  deal  with  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  the  lust 
of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride  of  life.  God  says  to 
Israel,  ' '  Ye  are  to  pass  through  the  coast  of 
your  brethren,  the  children  of  Esau,  which  dwell 
in  Seir;  and  they  shall  be  afraid  of  you:  take 
ye  good  heed  unto  yourselves  therefore  :  meddle 
not  with  them ;  for  I  will  not  give  you  of  their 
land,  no,  not  so  much  as  a  foot  breadth;  be- 
cause I  have  given  Mount  Seir  unto  Esau  for  a 
possession.     .     .     .     Distress  not  the  Moabites, 


now  TO  MEET  TEMPTATION.  119 

neither  cont end  witli  tliem  in  iKittle:  for  I  will 
not  give  thee  of  their  land  for  ii  possession;  be- 
cause I  have  given  Ar  unto  the  children  of  Lot 
for  a  possession.  .  .  .  And  when  thou 
comest  nigii  over  against  the  children  of  Ammon 
distress  them  not,  nor  meddle  with  them  :  for  I 
will  not  give  thee  of  the  land  of  the  children  of 
Ammon  any  possession ;  for  I  have  given  it  unto 
the  children  of  Lot  for  a  possession"  (Deuter- 
onomy ii.  4,  5,  9,  19).  This  is  a  remarkable 
charge  w^hen  w^e  consider  that  passing  through 
the  wilderness,  the  children  of  Israel  could  not 
escape  going  through  Moab,  Ammon,  and  Edom. 
You  must  go  through  temptations  of  the  world ; 
the  man  who  tries  to  be  a  monk,  and  the  woman 
wdio  wishes  to  be  a  nun  are  seeking  to  escape 
wdiat  never  can  be  escaped,  for  pressure  must  be 
apprehended  from  Moab,  Ammon,  and  Edom. 
What  are  w^e  to  do  with  regard  to  them? 
"Meddle  not  with  them."  Do  not  fight  with 
them,  because  they  are  your  brethren.  Do  not 
look  in  scorn  on  everyone  who  does  not   agree 

with  you.     Do  not  condemn  Mr. because  he 

goes  to  the  theater.  You  have  no  right  to  meddle 
with  them  either  for  good  or  for  evil ;  but  re- 
member that  it  is  your  place  to  keep  from  the 
evil  that  is  among  them,  and  to  pass  by  as  quickly 
as  you  can ;  you  have  no  inheritance  with  them 
any  more  than  they  have  with  you. 

What  do  we  see  in  the  tw^enty-fifth  cliai)ter  of 


120  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

Numbers?  "Israel  abode  in  Sliittim,  and  the 
people  began  to  commit  whoredom  with  the 
daughters  of  Moab/'  The  whole  chapter  is 
given  to  the  lust  of  the  flesh  presented  through 
Moab  to  God's  people  Israel.  The  temptation 
was  such  that  Israel  fell,  and  they  had  to  be 
blasted  and  blighted,  and  thousands  of  them  de- 
stroyed before  they  could  be  delivered  from  the 
cursed  effect  of  the  pressure  of  the  lust  of  the 
flesh  through  Moab.  Moab  represents  the  ac- 
tion of  the  external  lust  of  the  flesh.  Look  at 
Moab's  banishment  (Jeremiah  xlviii.  1,  11,  28, 
32) :  "  Against  Moab,  thus  saith  the  Lord  .  .  . 
Moab  hath  been  at  ease  from  his  youth,  and  he 
hath  settled  on  his  lees,  and  hath  not  been  emp- 
tied from  vessel  to  vessel,  neither  hath  he  gone 
into  captivity;  therefore  his  taste  remained  in 
him,  and  his  scent  is  not  changed.  ...  0 
ye,  that  dwell  in  Moab,  leave  the  cities,  and 
dwell  in  the  rock,  and  be  like  the  dove  that 
maketh  her  nest  in  the  sides  of  the  hole's 
mouth.  We  have  heard  the  pride  of  Moab  (he 
is  exceeding  proud),  his  loftiness,  and  his  arro- 
gance, and  his  pride,  and  the  haughtiness  of  his 
heart.  I  know  his  wrath,  saith  the  Lord,  but  it 
shall  not  be  so;  his  lies  shall  not  so  effect  it." 
[Why?]  .  .  .  "Thy  plants  are  gone  over 
the  sea,  they  reach  even  to  the  Sea  of  Jazer: 
the  spoiler  is  fallen  upon  thy  summer  fruits  and 
upon  thy  vintage."     The  whole  chapter  is  filled 


HOW  TO  MEET  TEMPTATION.  121 

with  the  idea  of  their  being  drunkards  and  lust- 
ful men,  who  walk  according  to  the  Hesh,  and 
God  says  that  he  will  have  to  punish  them 
according  to  the  nature  of  their  sin.  They  will 
not  give  themselves  to  anything  except  vessels 
that  are  yielded  to  lust,  therefore  God  says, 
"I  will  empty  you  out  of  your  vessels,  you  that 
are  empty,  and  you  shall  be  heavily  punished." 
Ammon  represents  the  lust  of  the  eye.  No- 
tice how  (Judges  x.  xi),  when  the  children  of  Is- 
rael came  into  possession  of  their  own  land  given 
them  by  God,  Ammon  came  down  to  claim  it, 
and  tried  in  every  way  to  rob  Israel  of  tlieir  in- 
heritance. See  what  is  said  "Concerning  the 
Ammonites  "  (Jer.  xlix.  1,  4,  5) :  "  Thus  saith  the 
Lord,  .  .  .  Wherefore  gloriest  thou  in  the  val- 
leys, thy  flowing  valley,  O  backsliding  daugh- 
ter? that  trusted  in  her  treasures,  saying.  Who 
shall  come  nnto  me  ?  Behold  !  I  will  bring  a  fear 
[a  punishment]  upon  thee,"  saith  the  Lord  God 
of  Hosts.  This  is  their  punishment;  (Ezekiel 
XXV.  3)  God  says,  "Say  unto  the  Ammonites, 
hear  the  word  of  the  Lord  God ;  thus  saith  the 
Lord  God  ;  because  thou  saidst,  aha !  against  my 
sanctuary,  when  it  was  profaned;  and  against 
the  land  of  Israel  when  it  was  desolate;  and 
against  the  house  of  Judali,  when  they  went  into 
captivity ;  behold !  therefore,  I  will  deliver  thee 
to  the  men  of  the  east  for  a  possession,  and  they 
shall  set  tlieir  palaces  in  thee,  and  make  their 


122  THE  VICTOEIOUS  LIFE. 

dwellings  in  thee;  tliey  shall  eat  thy  fruit, 
and  they  shall  drink  thy  milk."  It  is  a  good 
land  that  they  have  cherished  and  nourished ; 
Avliy  must  they  hand  it  over  to  the  enemy?  Be- 
cause their  eyes  lusted  after  Israel's  possessions, 
and  God  brings  punishment  upon  them  exactly 
according  to  their  sin. 

The  pride  of  life  is  seen  in  Edom  (Jer.  xlix.  7). 
Concerning  Edom,  thus  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts : 
^'Is  wisdom  no  more  in  Teman?  Is  counsel 
perished  from  the  i)rudent?  Is  their  wisdom  van- 
ished? Flee  ye,  turn  back,  dwell  deep,  O, 
inhabitants  of  Dedan ;  for  I  will  bring  the  calam- 
ity of  Esau  upon  him,  the  time  that  I  will  visit 
him."  The  whole  of  Obadiah's  prophecy  is 
given  over  to  a  judgment  of  the  people  of  Edom, 
because  they  asserted  their  ^Dride  against  Israel, 
and  set  themselves  uj)  against  the  living  Grod. 
The  world  will  have  their  judgment  from  the  liv- 
ing God,  but  it  is  not  for  me  to  condemn  my 
neighbor,  because  he  agrees  not  with  me.  I  may 
try  to  bring  him  into  the  covenant  of  the  Gospel 
by  love,  but  I  am  never  to  condemn  a  man,  be- 
cause I  see  him  go  over  to  the  lust  of  the  flesh 
and  become  a  drunkard ;  I  am  never  to  condemn 
those  who  are  in  the  x>ride  of  life ;  I  must  pass 
rapidly  through  them,  and  not  sta}^  to  flght. 

The  fourth  form  of  temptation  is  the  devil. 
The  devil  will  never  cease  to  tempt,  but  he 
tempts  in  a  very  diiferent  way  and  in  a  different 


HOJV  TO  MEET  TEMPTATION.  123 

sphere  of  our  being  from  that  of  the  world,  or 
oin,  or  the  llesh.     All  temptations  come  from  Sa- 
tan, but  he  uses  ditfereut  media.     Sin  tempts  as 
a  taskmaster,  the  flesh  tempts  with  allurements 
from  within,  and  the  world  from  without.     The 
devil  comes  ^vith  his  own  special  forms  of  temp- 
tation :  in  the  two  extremes  of  man's  being,  in 
his  highest  aspirations  tor  good,  or  in  his  lower 
feelings  of  cowardly  fear.    The  devil  comes  to  us 
either  with  pride  or  with  lies,  to  puff  us  up,  or 
to  terrify  us.     Notice  how  it  is  put  before  us  in 
Ephesians  vi.,  and  you  will  see  how  to  meet  it. 
We  are  supposed  to  be  in  the  heavenlies  with 
Christ ;  the  devil  is  below  in  the  air,  and  tries  to 
draw  us  out  of  the  heavenlies  with  two  forms  of 
temptation.     He  says  to  one   Christian,   ''  You 
claim  to  be  in  the  heavenlies ;  you !  do  you  think 
yourself  fit  to  sit  above  all  principalities   and 
powers  in  Christ  Jesus !     How  dare  you  claim  to 
be  where  the  Son  of  God  is  in  the  in'esence  of 
the  Father !  ''     He  terrifies  you  out  of  your  sj)ir- 
itual  life,  until  you  become  dejected  and  miser- 
able.     We  say  that  a  Christian  who  gets  into 
clouds  of  darkness  within  has  lost  his  faith.    He 
has  been  drawn  from  the   heavenlies   into   the 
cloud  of  the  wicked  spirits   that  lie   under  the 
heavenlies.       Christians,  we  were    meant  to  be 
above  the  clouds,  and  to  sit  in  heavenly  places. 
The  other  forms  of  the  devil's  temptation  is 
when  he  says,   "You  are  in  the  heavenlies  with 


124  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

Christ  Jesus ;  yon  are  one  with  the  Son  of  God ; 
you  are  a  great  man,  a  wonderful  preacher,  a 
splendid  worker ;  you  are  one  with  Christ ;  you 
are  in  a  position  as  lofty  as  the  beloved  Son  of 
God  can  occupy.''  The  devil  persuades  the 
man  to  think  that  he  is  a  god.  First  he  de- 
jected him  until  he  was  a  devil  in  hell,  then  he 
exalted  him  until  he  was  a  god  on  the  throne. 
You  begin  with  cowardly  terror  of  the  old  flesh- 
life  and  passions  Avithin  you,  then  you  rise  to 
the  world  around  yoti,  then  to  the  heavenlies 
where  you  meet  your  temi^tation  from  dejection 
to  exaltation. 

We  are  to  meet  these  two  temptations  in  ex- 
actly the  same  way.  Say  what  St.  Paul  said  to 
the  Ephesians:  "You  that  Avere  dead  in  tres- 
passes and  sins — children  of  wrath,  vile,  miserable, 
helpless  worms,  and  deserving  nothing  but  in- 
dignation— hath  God  exalted  to  his  own  right 
hand  in  heavenly  places."  You  do  not  deserve 
it  but  there  you  are,  so  that  pride  and  fear  are 
both  put  away,  when  you  recognize  that  you  are 
in  the  heavenlies,  strong  in  the  Lord  and  in  the 
power  of  his  might.  ' '  Put  on  the  whole  armor 
of  God,  that  ye  may  be  able  to  quench  the  flery 
darts  of  the  wicked  one."  You  are  saved  from 
the  attacks  of  the  devil  as  long  as  you  use  the 
shield  of  faith,  the  breastplate  of  righteousness, 
the  helmet  of  salvation,  and  the  sword  of  the 
Spirit  as  Christ  used  them  against  the  devil  in 


HOW  TO  MEET  TEMPTATION.  125 

the  wilderness.  The  devil  is  the  only  enemy  we 
are  told  to  light.  We  are  never  told  to  light  the 
flesh ;  we  are  to  give  it  the  sentence  of  death. 
We  are  never  told  to  fight  the  world ;  we  are  to 
give  it  the  go-by.  But  we  are  told  to  fight  the 
devil,  because  we  are  in  the  heavenlies,  and  he 
is  trying  to  drag  us  down. 

Look  at  the  children  of  Israel.  They  were 
told  never  to  fight  until  they  came  into  Canaan. 
Amalek  represents  the  hostile  world  that  attacks 
you  on  your  way  to  glory.  You  need  not  fight 
them,  but  need  only  grasp  the  rod  of  God's  i^ower 
and  stand  with  both  hands  held  up  to  Heaven, 
and  Amalek  is  beaten.  But  in  Canaan  you  have  to 
fight  with  Anakim,  giants,  and  cities  walled  up 
to  heaven.  The  enemy  fights,  but  down  go  the 
walls  when  the  children  of  Israel  shout  the 
praises  of  God ;  away  goes  the  enemy  when  they 
use  the  sword  of  the  Spirit ;  down  fall  their  foes, 
as  soon  as  they  really  trust  the  Lord;  there 
stands  the  sun ;  he  never  goes  down  as  long  as 
you  have  a  battle  to  fight ;  you  gain  the  victory 
when  you  use  the  sword  and  strength  of  the 
Lord. 

There  is  a  beautiful  thought  in  what  the  harlot 
Rahab  said  to  the  spies:  "I  know  that  the 
Lord  hath  given  you  the  land,  and  that  your 
terror  has  fallen  upon  us,  and  that  all  the  in 
habitants  of  the  land  faint  because  of  you." 
That  is  the  victory  over  our  foes  in  the  heaven- 


126  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

lies ;  they  have  come  to  faint  with  fear  because 
of  us.  The  way  is  all  ready  for  the  victory,  if 
you  can  only  get  your  enemy  to  be  afraid- 
Blessed  be  Grod,  the  devil  hath  become  an  arrant 
coward  since  Christ's  death,  if  he  never  was  be- 
fore, and  we  have  to  meet  only  a  cowardly 
enemy.  Those  si)lendid  fighting  epistles  of 
St.  James  and  St.  Peter,  therefore,  say,  "  Resist 
the  devil  and  he  Avill  flee  from  you." 

Lastly,  consider  deatJi.  St.  Paul  calls  this  the 
last  enemy  that  is  to  be  destroyed.  It  is  only 
the  fear  of  death  that  the  A^Dostle  speaks  of  in 
Hebrews  ii.  15  :  "  Christ  has  delivered  them  who, 
through  fear  of  death,  were  all  their  lifetime  sub- 
ject to  bondage."  Again  (II.  Timothy  i.  10)  he 
says :  ^ '  Christ  hath  abolished  death,  and  hath 
brought  life  and  immortality  to  light  through 
the  Gospel."  Thus,  when  we  think  of  death,  we 
should  say,  ' '  Thanks  be  to  God,  which  giveth 
us  the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 
I  have  not  been  able  to  find  anything  in  the  his- 
tory of  Israel  with  regard  to  the  way  we  should 
deal  with  death,  because  Israel's  history  only 
carries  us  to  the  point  of  dying,  and  never  takes 
us  beyond  the  present  life.  Agag  is  the  only 
one  who,  to  my  knowledge,  pictures  our  true  re- 
lation to  death.  He  said,  "  Truly  the  bitterness 
of  death  is  past."  We  are  not  now  to  look  for 
death  but  for  the  coming  of  the  Lord.  There- 
fore, knowing  that  I  am  conqueror  with  Christ 


7/0 1 r  rO  MEET  TEMPTATION.  \21 

whatever  befalls,  I  need  only  look  into  the  i'ace 
of  Christ  and  think  of  those  blessed  words  of 
Jesus,  ' '  I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life ;  he 
that  believeth  in  me,  though  he  were  dead,  yet 
shall  he  live :  and  whosoever  livetli  and  believ- 
eth in  me  sliall  never  die."  I  liave,  therefore, 
no  need  to  fear  death. 

Beloved,  we  have  mighty  enemies,  but  they 
have  been  taken  so  far  away  from  us  that  we  are 
^et  free  from  their  hand  ;  and  now  it  is  intended 
— and  surely  yoti  Avish  to  fulfill  God's  divine  pur- 
pose— that  you  should  serve  him  without  fear,  in 
holiness  and  righteousness  before  him  all  the 
days  of  your  life,  and  in  death,  even  forever 
and  ever.  Thanks  be  unto  God  for  his  unspeak- 
able gift. 


THE  SERVANT  OF  GOD. 


"  Moses  verily  was  faithful  in  all  his  house*  as  a  servant,  for  a 
testimony  of  those  things  which  were  to  be  spoken  after." — Heb. 
Hi.  5. 

Moses,  the  great  law-giver  of  Israel,  was  a  serv- 
ant in  a  master's  house,  and  in  considering  the 
subject  of  service  I  am  not  ashamed  to  call  it 
slavery.  It  must  be  slavery  of  a  particular 
kind,  however.  The  word  used  concerning 
Moses  is  not  the  word  for  slave,  as  in  many 
cases  of  others,  and  once  of  Moses  in  the  New 
Testament  where  he  is  called  a  "steward" 
of  the  manifold  grace  of  God.  Remember,  how- 
ever, that  when  the  Bible  was  written,  the  stew- 
ard in  the  house  of  an  Eastern  prince  was  as 
much  a  slave  as  the  lowest  menial  in  the  house- 
hold. He  was  a  privileged  slave,  an  interme- 
diary between  the  other  slaves  and  his  master, 
but  he  was  an  absolute  slave,  liable  for  any 
offence  to  be  castigated  or  destroyed.  Eleazer 
was  the  steward  of  Abraham,  and  was  perpetu- 


*  "  His  house  "  means  God's  house,  as  it  says  in  the  sixth  verse,  "  Christ  as  a 
Sou  over  his  own  house,  whose  house  are  we." 


THE  SERVANT  OF  GOD.  129 

ally  thinking  oL'  liis  master.  In  the  twenty- 
fourth  chapter  of  Genesis,  he  used  no  less  tlian 
twenty-three  times  tlie  expression,  "My  mas- 
ter." It  is  one  of  tlie  most  beautiful  passages 
to  display  the  true  stewardship  of  tlie  grace  of 
God,  and  the  privileges  of  the  servant  who  is 
called  to  represent  liis  master  in  the  great  mat- 
ters of  life,  more  especially  for  those  who  are 
called  to  act  as  stewards  in  seeking  a  bride  for 
the  master's  son.  If  we  are  called  to  be  any- 
thing as  servants  or  slaves,  it  is  that  me  may, 
like  Eleazer,  go  forth  into  the  world  under  the 
direction  of  our  God,  to  seek  a  bride  for  our 
master,  God's  Son. 

In  order  to  ax)preliend  the  reason  why  we  are 
servants,  if  we  are  really  servants,  we  must  first 
recognize  our  position  as  creatures,  creatures 
called  into  existence  by  the  fiat  of  God,  and 
therefore,  like  every  other  creation,  absolutely 
subject  to  his  sovereign  will.  The  difference 
between  us  and  a  lAece  of  clay  in  a  field  is  that 
that  clay  obeys  the  Lord's  will  unconsciously, 
because  it  must;  we  are  to  obey  consciously, 
because  we  may.  Because  we  are  endowed  with 
free-will  and  the  glorious  dignity  of  reason,  it 
behooves  us  to  l)e  far  more  submissive  to  our 
Lord  God  than  the  chiy.  We  should  obey  as 
absolutely,  but  with  infinitely  greater  intelligence 
and  joy,  because  we  are  called  into  existence 
for  our  Lord's  own  pleasure.    What  the  elders 


130  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

cry  before  the  tlirone  (Rev.  iv.  11),  "For  thy 
pleasure  they  Avere  and  are  created,''  applies 
to  us  exactly  as  much  as  to  the  angels  in 
glory. 

If  we  are  called  into  existence  to  fulfill  God's 
holy  will  (Eph.  i.  5),  then  that  f  ulhllnient  should 
be  absolute,  and  uninterrupted  through  all  eter- 
nity. But  although  Ave  recognize  this  duty  Ave 
find  that  Ave  are  incompetent  perfectly  to  fulfill 
that  Avill,  owing  to  the  infirmity  and  corrui^tion 
of  our  nature,  and  we,  therefore,  say  that  the  thing 
cannot  be,  therefore  it  need  not  be,  therefore  it 
shall  not  be.  So  we  acquiesce  in  the  difficulties 
of  our  position,  and  boAv  before  the  temptations 
that  assail  us,  and  call  them  the  ' '  infirmities  of 
the  flesh."  Men  and  Avomen  calmly  continue  in 
their  faults,  AAdiich  they  knoAv  to  be  sins,  but 
AA^hich  they  try  to  palliate  by  excuses  or  to  expi- 
ate by  pledges,  and  they  scruiDle  not  to  say, 
"Man  must  sin,  then  let  him  sin;  man  must 
fall,  then  let  him  fall ;  God  aa^II  be  gracious ; 
God  AAdll  forgive,  or  Avliat  is  the  good  of  the  Gos- 
pel? "  We  are  practically  saying,  '•  GodalloAA^ed 
me  to  be  born  Avith  an  infirmity  that  necessi- 
tates a  fall ;  then  let  him  pardon  me ;  let  him 
lower  his  standard  to  meet  niy  necessities ;  he 
dare  not  demand  perfection  because  he  knoAA^y 
that  I  cannot  attain  it."  AAA^ay  NA'ith  such  blas- 
phemies, my  brethren,  I  beseech  you.  We  are 
called  to  preach  another  Gospel. 


THE  SERVAST  OF  COD.  131 

The  Salvation  Army  in  llicir  cntecliisni  say  that 
perfection  of  life  only  means  living  np  to  the 
possibilities  of  an  inlirm  natnre,  since  God  asks 
no  more  of  his  creatnre  than  that  creatnre  can 
perform  ;  to  do  right  in  everything  means  simply 
to  do  what  God  wonld  like  me  to  do  so  far  as  my 
conscience  tells  me  and  my  mind  can  understand. 
That  is  perfection  !  That  is  making  God  nothing 
more  than  a  superior  creature  like  yourself. 
That  sets  no  absolute  standard  toward  which  we 
are  to  advance,  but  every  man's  relative  view 
becomes  the  true  standard  of  perfection.  God's 
perfection  then  varies  according  to  the  standard 
of  each  man's  apprehension,  and  men  take  God 
to  task  if  he  demands  more  than  they  think  that 
they  can  render.  Away  with  such  doctrines,  and 
let  us  come  to  one  standard,  the  absolute  and 
perfect  standard  of  God. 

Well  do  I  remember  the  beautiful  effect  pro- 
duced upon  my  soul  when  a  great  philosophic 
leader  of  the  Brahmo-Somaj  spoke  in  Exeter 
Hall  for  the  benefit  of  the  Bible  Society.  He 
began  by  saying  that  he  had  studied  thirty-three 
creeds  to  their  depths,  having  given  his  life  to 
the  study  of  creeds  to  find  which  was  the  perfect 
one.  He  said  that  he  never  came  to  any  satisfac- 
tion of  soul  or  rest  of  mind  or  conscience  until 
he  opened  the  Christian  Bible,  and  at  the  outset 

read,    'In  the  beginning,  God "     He  said, 

*' There  I   stopped.     That  was  enough  for  me, 


132  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

for  in  all  the  creeds  of  the  East  I  had  never  yet 
met  with  one  that  portrayed  a  personal  creator 
who,  out  of  his  own  inherent  power,  called  all 
things  into  existence.  That  was  sufficient  for 
me ;  I  felt :   '  Here  is  the  divine  revelation.'  " 

So  I  would  say,  that  to  every  truly  established 
Christian  there  ought  to  be  a  fixed  standard  of 
faith  and  duty,  a  great  revelation  from  God  of 
his  privilege  and  obligation  in  every  respect  from 
the  beginning  to  the  end  of  eternity.  We  must 
put  God  to  the  front,  and  then  remember  that 
the  standard  of  holiness  which  we  are  to  attain 
must  never  be  lowered  to  meet  the  necessity  of 
man's  circumstances,  but  must  remain  the  same, 
the  absolutely  true  and  perfect  standard  of  God 
himself.  If  God  were  ever  to  lower  his  stand- 
ard to  meet  man's  requirements,  there  could  never 
be  satisfaction  through  eternity  for  us  creatures, 
because  we  hope  to  rise  higher  and  higher,  to 
be  nearer  and  nearer  to  God.  If  God  lowered 
his  standard  of  holiness  to  meet  our  ideas  down 
here  in  our  imperfection,  how  could  we  con- 
tinue to  reverence  him  as  the  Absolute  and  All- 
perfect  One?  Therefore,  a  creature  is  called  into 
existence  to  enjoy  fellowship  and  union  with 
God;  to  know  God,  until  he  becomes  in  some 
sense  the  representative  of  God.  Should  there  not 
always  be  present  to  that  creature's  mind  this 
one  thought,  "  I  am  made  for  God,  I  am  to  rep- 
resent God  to  the  things  below  me,  I  am  to  walk 


THE  SERVAXT  OF  GOD.  133 

in  oneness  ^vitll  God  ;  the  aiu])ition  of  my  soul  is 
so  to  be  the  very  reflector  of  God— that  I  become 
one  with  liini,  and  yet  remain  a  creature  to  the 
end  of  eternity?''  If  that  be  the  standard  it  is 
evident  that  something  must  be  done  to  meet 
man's  present  circumstances  and  to  bring  them 
into  accord  with  what  God  requires  which  is 
nothing  less  than  perfection.  Our  Holiness  is 
the  extent  to  which  we  carry  out  that  perfection. 
Hereafter,  we  know  that  ^ye  shall  be  perfectly 
holy  ;  but,  must  men  content  themselves  with 
that  hope  while  they  are  constantly  falling  here 
on  earth?  No.  It  is  true  tliat  we  shall  always 
come  short  of  the  glory  of  God,  but  there  need 
be  no  lowering  of  the  standard  of  true  holiness 
which  consists  in  unceasing  and  perfect  service, 
the  carrying  out  of  the  will  of  God. 

How  has  God  met  the  need  of  man  who  is 
manifestly  an  infirm  creature  tempted  on  every 
hand  to  do  evil?  -  After  Adam's  fall  God  gave 
him  a  promise,  and  for  centuries  men  lived  un- 
der the  dispensation  of  that  promise  which,  how- 
ever, failed  to  accomplish  the  salvation  of  all 
mankind.  Tlien  came  the  redemption  from 
Egypt,  and  the  giving  of  the  law^  and  men  lived 
under  the  redemption  from  bondage  and  in  the 
possession  of  apparent  fellowship  with  God ;  but 
the  requirements  of  the  law^  were  too  high,  and 
failed  to  save  tliem.  God  next  sent  his  Son,  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and    "what   the  law  could 


134  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

not  do,  in  that  it  was  weak  through  the  flesh, 
God  sending  his  own  Son  in  the  likeness  of  sin- 
ful flesh,  and  for  sin  condemned  sin  in  the  flesh  : 
that  the  righteousness  of  the  law  might  be  ful- 
filled in  us,  who  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but 
after  the  Spirit. ' '  Thus  we  have  a  declaration  on 
the  i)art  of  God,  that  in  Christ  Jesus  there  is  x)ro- 
vision  made  whereby  weak  and  sinful  man  may 
rise  far  above  the  standard  of  the  possibilities  of 
the  Old  Testament,  for  Christ  has  given  to  man 
a  power  to  fulfill  the  righteousness  of  the  law,  if 
he  walks  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the 
Spirit.  We  are,  therefore,  endowed  above  all 
others  that  ever  lived  before  us,  for  we  live  in 
the  dispensation  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  is  an 
aAvful  prerogative.  Men  talk  lightly  about  the 
scheme  of  redemption,  the  blessings  of  salvation, 
and  the  glory  of  the  believer's  inheritance,  and 
forget  that  it  is  not  the  glory  of  the  inheritance 
to  which  the  saints  are  to  look  forward,  but  as 
St.  Paul  says,  ^'  The  glory  of  Christ's  inheritance 
in  the  saints."  It  was  said  to  Levi,  ''  The  Lord 
is  your  inheritance,"  but  they  were  also  the 
Lord's  inheritance.  It  is  said  in  the  Church  to- 
day, "  The  Lord  is  our  inheritance,"  but  we  are 
also  the  Lord's  inheritance.  We  take  of  the  full- 
ness of  God,  but  we,  the  church,  are  also  "the 
fullness  of  him  that  filleth  all  in  all"  (Eph.  i.  23). 
It  is  only  when  men  are  forced  to  the  conviction 
that  God  meant  better  things  for  them  than  they 


THE  SEE  V. \XT  (IE  nOD.  135 

have  known,  that  they  seem  driven  to  the  condu- 
sion  that  it  is  not  with  God  that  tlie  responsibil- 
ity for  man's  failure  rests,  but  in  num's  want  of 
faith.  If  faith  could  only  rise  to  its  fullness  of 
fruition,  I  believe  that  we  sliould  be  perfected,  as 
we  shall  be  perfected  when  faith  is  lost  in  sight, 
and  "we  shall  be  like  him,  because  we  see  him 
as  he  is." 

Let  us  look  at  Moses  as  an  example  of  one  who 
was  enabled  to  glorify  God  as  a  servant.  It  is  in 
the  idea  of  a  slave,  but  different  from  Moses'  slav- 
ery, that  I  wish  to  exhibit  our  highest  privilege. 
The  position  of  slave  is  the  true  position  for 
us  to  occupy  under  the  Gospel,  and  is  a  posi- 
tion of  honor  instead  of  one  of  degradation. 

It  is  a  position  of  honor  because  Jesus  Christ 
was  pleased  to  take  upon  himself  the  form  of  a 
slave.  We  cannot  become  true  children  of  God 
in  all  the  glories  of  adoption  and  inheritance, 
until  we  become  exactly  like  Christ.  We  must, 
therefore,  go  through  the  agony  of  death  by  a 
condition  of  slavery  as  the  Master  did.  Conse- 
quently, St.  Paul  declares  repeatedly  that  his 
highest  dignity  is  to  be  the  slave  of  Jesus  Christ. 
He  says  to  Timothy  (II.,  ii.),  ''Thou,  therefore, 
my  son,  be  strong  in  the  grace  that  is  in  Christ 
Jesus" — and  proceeds  to  trace  out  the  charac- 
teristics of  a  true  son  of  God.  He  says  that 
when  a  man  becomes  a  son,  he  becomes  a  soldier, 
an  athlete,  a  husbandman,  a  part  of  the  house- 


136  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

hold,  a  vessel,  and  lie  closes  by  calling  Timothy 
the  servant  of  the  Lord  as  being  the  highest  dig- 
nity for  the  child  of  God.  Thus,  if  we  fulfill  our 
privileges  as  children  of  God,  apparentl}'  the 
noblest  of  all  our  positions  upon  earth  is  in  being 
dovXoi,  slaves.  We  lose  the  idea  of  slavery 
when  we  think  of  perfect  acquiescence  in  the 
will  of  God,  and  the  joy  of  the  presence  of 
Christ. 

If  this  be  the  position  of  the  true  child  of 
God,  Christians  are  different  from  those  who  lived 
in  the  Old  Testament  dispensation  in  having  as  a 
starting-point  sonship  to  God.  We  have  a  mo- 
tive power  which  they  never  had.  Moses  fell,  but 
we  may  not  therefore  expect  to  fall,  for  we  have  a 
motive  power  that  was  lacking  to  even  the  noblest 
of  God's  Old  Testament  saints;  we  have  the  in- 
dwelling power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  gives 
us  a  new  life,  the  very  life  of  the  Son  of  God. 
While  the  Old  Testament  believers  were  only 
expected  to  '^  11662:)  the  commandments  of  God," 
but  the  New  Testament  saints  are  ''  litjyt  by  the 
power  of  God  through  faith  unto  salvation, 
ready  to  be  revealed  in  the  last  day. ' ' 

Moses  may  serve  us  as  a  pattern  of  a  true  serv- 
ant of  God  even  though  he  was  a  slave  in  an- 
other's house,  while  we  are  sons  in  a  Father's 
house.  We  find  in  him  a  magnificent  testimony 
to  what  you  and  I  might  be  if  we  were  only  faith- 
fully yielded  to  our  Lord  as  his   children  for 


THE  SERVANT  OF  GOD.  137 

enjoyment,  and  as  servants  for  service  according 
to  his  demand.  It  is  very  beautiful  to  study 
the  picture  of  him,  traced  in  the  book  of  He- 
brews, among  what  are  called  the  ''Heroes  of 
Faith."  We  read  lirst,  ''By  faith,  Moses,  w^hen 
he  was  born,  was  hid  three  months  of  his  par- 
ents, because  they  saw  he  was  a  proper  child ;  * 
and  they  were  not  afraid  of  the  king's  command- 
ment.'' It  is  a  great  blessing  to  be  born  of 
faithful  parents.  Moses'  parents  seem  to  have 
had  some  faith  in  God,  since  they  were  not 
afraid  of  the  king's  commandment.  They  seem 
also  to  have  recognized  in  the  child  some  divine 
call,  and  therefore  determined  to  keep  him 
alive.  But  the  risk  became  too  great,  and  at 
last  they  placed  the  child  in  the  ark,  which  rep- 
resents in  a  sense  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  the 
place  of  safety  in  the  hour  of  death  and  destruc- 
tion. From  this  ark  the  child  was  ''drawn  out;" 
and  made  the  son  of  Pharaoh's  daughter.  From 
that  moment  Moses  becomes  the  drawn-out  one. 
He  is  taken  from  the  place  of  destruction,  and  is 
committed  to  the  care  of  his  mother  wlio  rears 
him  to  have  some  knovrledge  of  God.  At  length 
he  is  taken  into  the  court  of  Pharaoh,  and  be- 
comes heir  to  the  throne,  with  opportunities 
peculiarly  great,  and  privileges  that  the  w-orld 


*  Stephen  uses  the  same  expression  (rtCrreZ'os)  concerning  Moses  in  his  speech 
before  the  High  Priest  when  he  says  (Acts  vii.  20),  "  In  which  time  Moses  was 
born,  and  was  exceeding  fair"  (fair  to  Uod). 


138  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

would  consider  most  remarkable  and  enviable. 
He  is  brought  up  in  the  midst  of  the  world  with 
all  its  allurements,  all  its  difficulties,  all  its 
temptations,  all  its  demands,  and  all  its  terrible 
l^ressures.  When  he  has  come  to  full  age,  and 
has  the  power  of  choosing,  he  is  suddenly  called 
upon  to  exercise  his  free  will.  There  comes  a 
time  in  every  man's  career  when  he  must  exer- 
cise his  free  will,  or  he  cannot  hope  to  become  a 
faithful  servant  of  God. 

The  moment  that  Moses  came  to  years  of  dis- 
cretion we  read  that  he  "refused  to  be  called 
the  son  of  Pharaoh's  daughter."  Take  that  as 
the  starting-point  of  the  life  of  service.  If  your 
circumstances  are  making  it  impossible  for  you 
to  carry  out  what  would  otherwise  be  the  wall  of 
God,  then  drop  your  circumstances  as  Moses 
did;  it  rests  with  you  to  do  it.  Refuse  any 
longer  to  be  called  the  son  of  Pharaoh's  daugh- 
ter. You  have  been  in  the  courts  of  men,  you 
have  stood  high  in  the  favor  of  the  i)eople  of 
this  world,  and  your  heirshii)  may  look  exceed- 
ingly brilliant.  You  must  choose  whether  you 
will  take  the  heavenly  inheritance  or  the  earthly. 
There  comes  a  X3oint  in  every  man's  history 
when,  if  he  wishes  to  be  a  sanctified  vessel,  meat 
for  the  Master's  use,  he  must  decide  to  drop 
everything  that  prevents  a  holy  career,  and  a 
life  of  perfect  service  among  the  people  of  the 
Lord.     This  is  the  starting-point  of  the  life  of 


THE  SKR  V.  1  .vr  OF  G OD.  1 39 

true  service,  and  it  is  vain  to  talk  al)()iit  Chris- 
tian i)rivileges  and  Christian  prospects  as  the 
hiwfnl  inheritance  of  every  believer  wliile  yon 
refnse  to  obey  God's  call  to  come  ont  from 
Pharaoh's  conrt.  Americans  say  tliat  they  own 
no  kini;-.  I  wish  that  none  of  them  did.  King 
Money,  King  Fashion,  King  Society,  King  Cir- 
cnmstances  rnle  millions  of  God's  people  and 
keep  them  back  from  their  holy  calling,  as  the 
conrt  of  riiaraoh  might  have  kept  Moses  from 
obeying  the  call  of  God.  Brethren,  if  you  have 
not  already  done  so  you  must  come  to  a  solemn 
decision  and  say,  ''I,  by  the  grace  of  God,  re- 
fuse from  this  moment  to  be  called  the  son  of 
Pharaoh's  daughter;  "  you  must  turn  your  back 
on  the  fashions,  the  customs,  the  honors  of  the 
world,  and  determinedly  take  your  stand  against 
that  which  keeps  you  from  fully  obeying  the 
call  of  God. 

We  see  the  next  stage  pictured  in  that  Moses 
chose  rather  "  to  suffer  affliction  with  the  people 
of  God  than  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a 
season."  If  you  are  Pharaoh's  daughter's  son 
by  adoption,  if  the  world  h;is  taken  you  into 
its  bosom  and  has  said,  ''  Come,  live  with  me  and 
enjoy  the  pleasures  that  I  have  to  offer,"  no  one 
denies  that  it  is  very  pleasant  for  a  season. 
Would  the  devil  be  what  he  is  if  he  did  not  gild 
his  bullets,  and  if  he  did  not  find  something  to 
boast   of   to   offset   the  glorious   attractions   of 


140  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

heaven?  Of  course,  Pharaoh's  court  with  all  its 
grandeur,  its  learning,  its  talent,  its  science,  its 
magnificent  prosi)ects  and  possibilities  and 
X)ower  attracts  men,  and  they  are  drawn  into  its 
snare.  The  half  and  half  man  says,  "  See  wdiat 
I  can  do  if  I  stay  where  I  am.  When  I  become 
king  over  Israel,  see  what  I  can  do  for  God's 
people. "  "  Thou  fool !  this  night  thy  soul  shall 
be  required  of  thee,  and  then  wiiose  shall  these 
things  be?"  Who  told  you  that  the  opportu- 
nity would  be  sufficient  for  the  purpose,  or  that 
you  would  have  strength  to  use  it?  The  call  of 
God  is  upon  you,  and  you  must  first  of  all  exer- 
cise your  free  will,  and  then  you  must  have 
your  heart  stirred ;  you  must  be  attracted  by 
God's  people  in  their  present  humiliation  and 
distress.  This  weighs  against  the  attractions  of 
the  world,  because  you  see  what  is  coming  by 
trusting  the  Lord.  It  is  not  enough  to  say,  ''  I 
am  'drawn  out,' and  I  thank  God  for  the  ark 
that  saved  me  from  destruction  in  the  river  of 
death.  I  want  no  more,  I  am  God's  man." 
You  must  choose  Avhether  you  will  share  the 
afflictions  of  God's  people  rather  than  enjoy  the 
pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season.  The  late  Bishop 
Roland  Hill,  a  witty  Irishman,  once  said  to  me : 
' '  Brother  Pej^loe,  I  long  to  preach  to  all  London 
one  sermon  before  I  die."  "What  do  you 
mean?"  I  asked.  "I  have  only  one  sermon," 
he    replied,    ''that    I    want   to    preach   to   all 


THE  SERVANT  OE  GOD.  141 

London,  to  Belgravin,  nnd  that  part  where  fashion 
reigns."  '^What  will  be  your  text?"  '^The 
Pleasures  of  Sin  for  a  Season,"  he  answered; 
"  I  would  cari'y  them  through  a  London  season, 
and  show  them  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  London 
season."  I  once  heard  of  a  man  who  preached 
to  a  tremendous  audience  of  the  most  fashion- 
able people  in  London,  taking  his  text  from  the 
46tli  Psalm:  ^'Be  still  and  know  that  I  am 
God."  He  said:  '''Be  still!'  What  a  satire 
upon  the  world  of  fashion  ! — Be  still !  God  says 
it  to  you  people  of  fashionable  society,  and  what 
do  you  do  to  be  still?  —  rise  with  a  jaded  brow, 
a  sickly  tongue,  and  a  weary  stomach  at  twelve 
o'clock  in  the  day,  and  go  out  to  the  Row,^  and 
from  the  Row  to  luncheon,  from  luncheon  for  a 
drive,  from  the  drive  to  tea,  from  tea  to  dinner, 
from  dinner  to  the  theater,  from  the  theater  to 
the  ball,  and  from  the  ball  you  come  home  at 
three  o'clock  in  the  morning  sick,  weary,  broken- 
hearted and  distressed;  and  God  says  to  the 
weary  world  of  fashion,  '  Be  still,  and  know  that 
I  am  God.'  My  God,  what  a  satire  upon  re- 
ligion I  " 

The  pleasure  of  sin  may  seem  very  great  to 
you  when  you  are  young,  but  what  will  be  the 
end?  Who  is  the  most  successful  in  this  world? 
Is   it   not   the   man   who,  at   the   outset   of  his 


*  Rotten  Row,  the  fashiouable  drive  in  Hyde  Park. 


142  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

career,  calculates  what  will  be  the  most  propitious 
method  of  speculatio'i  or  action?  Men  like  Pears, 
who  spent  £137,000  (s68o,000)  in  advertisements 
of  soap  in  one  year,  are  generally  the  men  who 
succeed  the  best,  because  they  give  up  the  pres- 
ent for  the  sake  of  the  future.  Why  is  it  that 
men  and  women  wlio  desire  to  succeed  in  this 
world  are  considered  wise  if  they  make  a  sacri- 
fice now  for  the  sake  of  the  future,  while  the  man 
of  God  alone  is  expected  to  make  no  sacrifice 
and  no  preparation  in  spiritual  speculation, 
based  upon  good  calculations  of  course,  for  the 
future? 

Moses  refused  first;  there  is  the  exercise  of 
will.  He  chose ;  there  is  the  exercise  of  affec- 
tion ;  he  felt  that  it  would  be  better  to  cast  his 
lot  with  the  people  of  God.  Now  he  goes  one 
step  further  and  does  what  you  and  I  must 
do:  '' Esteeming  the  reproach  of  Christ  greater 
riches  than  the  treasures  in  Egypt,  for  he  had 
resjoect  unto  the  recomx^ense  of  the  reward."  I 
am  not  ashamed  to  calculate,  and  to  be  ambi- 
tious in  the  spiritual  domain.  Moses,  the  servant 
of  God,  calculated  well,  and  he  concluded  that  it 
would  be  better  to  endure  the  reproach  of  Christ 
than  to  have  all  the  treasures  of  Egypt.  Put 
the  two  side  by  side,  the  things  of  the  world  in 
one  scale-i^an,  and  the  things  of  God  in  the  other, 
and  see  which  kicks  the  beam.  Make  your  cal- 
culation and    say  deliberately,    ' '  I  esteem   the 


THE  SEPxVAXr  OF  COD.  143 

reproach  of  Clirist  ^'reater  riches  tlian  the  treas- 
ures of  tlie  world/'  We  never  th()ii.<;ht,  perhaps, 
that  Moses  liad  anything  to  do  with  Clirist.  We 
read  that  Abraham  saw  Christ's  day  and  was 
glad,  and  now  we  iind  tliat  Moses,  too,  saw 
Christ's  day.  I  humbly  think  that  Moses  saw 
Christ  when  he  said  (Deut.  xviii.  15),  ''  The  Lord 
thy  God  will  raise  uj)  unto  thee  a  prophet  from 
the  midst  of  thee,  of  thy  brethren,  like  unto  me ; 
unto  him  ye  shall  hearken."  He  must  also  have 
seen  Christ  in  the  couit  of  Pharaoh  somewhere, 
for  he  actually  could  calculate  everything,  and 
say,  "This  is  better  for  me."  You  say  it  is 
selfish,  but  that  matters  not ;  it  is  better  for  you 
and  for  the  world,  if  you  only  will  come  to  this 
conclusion,  that  tlie  reproach  of  Christ  is  greater 
riches  than  all  the  treasures  of  Egypt.  When  a 
man  has  settled  those  three  things,  his  will,  his 
affection,  and  his  reason,  all  bring  him  to  the 
conclusion  that  he  would  better  give  up  any- 
thing that  hinders  his  soul,  and  join  himself  to 
the  i:)eople  of  the  Lord,  and  take  the  reproach  of 
Christ.  Then  he  is  well  started  toward  the  glory 
of  the  future  inheritance. 

IS'ow  follow  Moses,  the  servant  of  God,  in  the 
second  stage  of  his  life.  When  he  has  left  the 
court  of  Pharaoli  to  join  himself  to  the  children 
of  Israel,  God  mysteriously  interferes  and  does  not 
let  him  become  a  leader  in  his  own  strength. 
Many  men  think  '  •  I  will  go  back  and  be  a  leader, ' ' 


144  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

and  Moses  tried  to  avenge  the  children  of  Israel 
by  his  own  power,  and  smote  the  Egyptian.  God 
says  to  him,  ' '  You  retire ;  none  of  that  killing ;  " 
and  sends  him  away  for  forty  years.  "  By  faith 
he  forsook  Egypt,  not  fearing  the  wrath  of  the 
king,  for  he  endured,  as  seeing  him  wlio  is  invis- 
ible." It  took  forty  years  for  Moses  to  have  his 
eyes  opened  to  see  Him  who  is  invisible.  It  may 
take  a  long  time  for  you  to  be  brought  to  see 
God  as  he  may  be  seen  by  the  pure  in  heart,  the 
faithful  in  spirit,  the  holy  in  purpose,  and  the 
consecrated  in  life.  Forty  years  God  had  to 
deal  with  Moses  near  Horeb,  the  mountain  of 
God's  holiness.  Moses  had  to  live  there  as  a 
mere  shepherd  in  the  wilderness,  that  he  might 
be  taught  in  God's  school.  Men  do  not  excel  to- 
day, because,  after  their  conversion,  they  do  not 
go  apart,  like  Moses  and  Paul,  into  Horeb  or 
Arabia  for  a  season.  Young  Christians  must  go 
into  Arabia.  Book  learning  will  never  make 
pi'eachers.  You  must  get  away  alone  Avith  God 
and  his  Holy  Word,  and  let  God  sx)eak  to  you 
until  your  eyes  are  opened.  Then  you  will  see 
the  burning  bush,  the  majesty  of  God,  and  it 
will  make  you  take  oif  your  shoes,  for  you  will 
see  that  the  ground  whereon  you  stand  is  holj^. 
Then  only  will  God  call  you  to  be  a  delivered 
man  and  a  deliverer. 

After  forty  years  of  schooling  by  God,  Moses 
still  shrinks  back  from  being   a  mere  servant. 


THE  SER  V.  1  XT  OF  G OD.  1 45 

111  seven  ways  he  sought  to  eviule  the  holy 
call  of  God.  It  is  one  thing  to  go  out  and  be 
alone  witli  God,  it  is  quite  another  thing  to 
be  willing  to  be  the  servant  of  others.  AVhen 
Moses,  by  faith  has  learned  to  endure,  seeing 
Ilini  who  is  invisible,  only  then  does  God  call 
him  to  go  down  into  Egypt,  back  into  the  world, 
the  place  of  temptation  and  peril.  He  is  fitted 
now.  When  God  has  truly  consecrated  him 
and  has  given  him  j^ower  both  with  the  moutli 
and  in  spirit  to  utter  the  will  and  the  purposes 
of  God,  God  sends  him  into  Egypt  to  announce 
to  the  children  of  Israel  God's  holy  x>lau  of 
salvation. 

-  !N'otice  the  plan  of  salvation  which  Moses  was 
to  announce.  It  is  the  only  plan  of  salvation 
that  is  scorned  to-day,  it  is  the  passover,  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb  that  must  be  put  upon  the 
doorpost,  the  redemption  from  God's  wrath  by 
a  sacrifice,  and  then  the  feeding  upon  the  Lamb 
which  God  has  provided  in  order  that  the  soul 
may  be  fitted  for  the  journey  that  lies  before 
it.  This  is  the  doctrine  which  we  must  i)reach 
as  much  as  Moses  had  to  i^reach  it,  that  the 
people  of  Israel  might  be  redeemed  through 
God's  hand,  but  through  Moses'  mouth  —  the 
doctrine  of  the  paschal  lamb.  Whenever  a  man 
begins  God's  service  among  the  degraded  slaves 
who  are  held  in  bondage  by  Egypt,  he  must 
preach    salvation  obtained  through  God's  right 


146  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

hand  of  power  b}^  blood,  and  by  the  feeding 
iipon  the  lamb.  Moses  does  this  through  faith. 
"  Through  faith,  he  kept  the  passover  and  tlie 
sprinkling  of  blood,  lest  he  that  destroyed  the 
first-born  should  touch  them."  Salvation  is 
wont  to  lead  to  service  and  to  service  by  w^hich 
we  seek  to  save. 

There  is  one  step  further.  By  faith  Moses  led 
them  ''through  the  Red  Sea  as  by  dry  land; 
which  the  Egyptians  essaying  to  do,  w^ere 
drowned."  This  is  the  great  way  in  Avhich  the 
man  becomes  the  leader.  First,  he  only  preaches 
for  himself  and  his  neighbors,  that  they  must  use 
the  lamb ;  but  wdien  he  has  taught  them  the  doc- 
trine of  deliverance  and  salvation,  then,  in  pass- 
ing through  the  Red  Sea,  which  is  the  place  of 
death,  and  coming  out  on  the  other  side  with  the 
whole  church  of  God,  the  man  must  be  their 
leader.  We  who  i)rofess  to  serve  God  must  be- 
come leaders  to  draw  the  people  forward  into 
true  spiritual  baptism  out  of  the  land  of  bond- 
age up  to  the  Mount  of  God,  and  into  the  land 
of  Canaan.  And  Moses  should  have  led  the 
people  all  the  w^ay  into  Canaan. 

See  why  Moses  failed  to  be  what  Ave  are  intended 
to  be — leaders  into  the  good  land.  One  sin  in 
that  wilderness  life  prevented  Moses  from  tak- 
ing the  people  into  the  blessed  land  of  possession 
and  powder — an  awful  sin,  but  only  one.  The 
meekest  man  that  ever  lived  lost  his  temper  once, 


THE  SER  VA  XT  OF  COD.  1  47 

because  they  provoked  him  so  that  he  spake  un- 
advisedly with  liis  lii)s,  and  then  lie  dared  To 
strike  the  rock,  which  (lod  had  already  told  him 
once  to  strik(%  and  only  once.  The  law  strikes 
Christ,  who  is  our  Rock,  once,  and  the  Avaters  of 
life  flow  out  of  the  rock ;  strike  it  again  on  ac- 
count of  temper,  and  you  crucify  the  Son  of  God 
afresh  and  put  him  to  open  shame.  Moses  by 
striking  the  rock  a  second  time  falsifies  the 
types,  and  God  therefore  i)unislies  him.  Smit- 
ing twice  brings  sin  npon  the  actor ;  and  for  that 
act  Moses  was  never  admitted  into  Canaan.  It  is 
very  tonching  to  hear  Moses  pleading  Avith  God 
to  be  allowed  to  enter  Canaan,  until  at  last  the 
Lord  says,  ' '  It  must  suffice  thee  to  see  it  from 
afar;  speak  no  more."  As  the  representative  of 
the  law^  I  suppose  that  God  w^as  obliged  to  deal 
solemnly,  judiciously,  even  supernaturally  wdtli 
him,  wdiere  he  would  not  deal  so  with  any  other 
of  his  children  or  his  servants. 

If  you  have  taken  Moses  as  the  pattern  of  the 
w^ay  in  which  we  should  l)egin  to  be  the  servants 
of  God,  then  calculate  and  decide  whether  or  not 
Moses  was  a  wise  si^eculator  in  his  choice ;  decide 
w^hether  you  w^ould  be  wise  in  making  the  same 
choice.  First  you  must  become  voluntary  slaves ; 
you  must  refuse  to  be  called  the  son  of  Pha- 
raoh's daughter  and  must  go  out  to  the  children 
of  Israel ;  you  must  pass  perhaps  a  third  of  your 
life  with  God,  and  then  you  mav  be  called  to  lead 


148  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

the  people  into  the  goodly  land.  Was  Moses  a 
wise  s2)ecnlator?  He  was  obliged  to  give  np  home, 
family  ties,  i^leasures,  prospects,  privileges,  all 
connected  with  the  earth  and  with  human  life. 

If  ever  a  man  on  earth  longed  for  a  home  in 
the  earthly  sense,  I  sujppose  that  Moses  did.  For 
eighty  years  he  w^as  nothing  but  a  wanderer — 
forty  years  caring  for  Jethro's  sheep,  and  forty 
years  in  the  wilderness  Avith  the  i)eople  he  was 
allowed  to  lead  out  of  Egypt.  Eighty  out  of  the 
one  hundred  and  twenty  years  of  his  life  that  man 
never  had  an  earthly  home.  ]^ow  the  ninetieth 
Psalm  is  called  the  Psalm  of  Moses,  ' '  the  prayer 
of  Moses,  the  man  of  God."  What  does  he  say? 
"  Lord,  thou  hast  been  our  dwelling-place  in  all 
generations."  You  have  a  home,  but  it  may  be 
burned  to-night.  You  have  a  tabernacle  which 
you  think  is  very  beautiful,  but  the  wind  or  the 
Hood  may  crush  it  down.  But  take  Moses' 
home.  "Lord,  thou  hast  been  our  dw^elling- 
place  in  all  generations."  The  man  is  at  home 
in  the  Lord ;  he  is  like  that  man  of  wdiom  we 
read  "  His  soul  shall  lodge  in  goodness  "  (Psalm 
XXV.  13).  Moses  lodged  in  goodness  —  cheap 
lodging,  well  furnished,  always  ready,  plenty 
of  accommodations  for  all  friends  who  may 
come  in.  The  Lord  will  send  you  such  servi- 
tors as  you  never  dreamed  of  having  to  w^ait 
on  you;  they  shall  be  angels.  I  suppose  that 
Moses  never  lacked  servants ;  his    soul   lodged 


THE  SERVANT  OF  HOD.  149 

ill  <;()()(lness,  and  tlic  l^oid  wns  liis  dwclling- 
l)lace,  though  he  was  one  of  the  hunili)lest  of 
men.  You  like  the  prospect,  and  you  say,  *' I 
shoukl  like  to  be  the  blessed  means  of  leading 
men  to  know  the  Lord,  and  ])eing  a  deliverer  for 
those  who  are  in  bondage,  but  I  should  have  to 
give  np  so  much,'-  or  you  say,  ''I  am.  like 
Moses,  an  infirm  man,  I  shall  loose  my  temper,  I 
shall  never  get  into  the  land."  Brethren,  God 
is  love,  God  is  love.  God  kept  Moses  out  of 
Canaan.  Did  he?  Yes,  in  the  flesh;  but  did 
he  always  keep  Moses  out  of  Canaan? 

Fifteen  hundred  years  after  Moses  lost  the 
inheritance  of  the  earthly  Canaan,  into  which 
he  had  so  longed  to  enter,  four  men  from  a  vil- 
lage in  Galilee  are  seen  w^alking  up  a  mountain- 
side one  evening  at  sunset.  When  they  reached 
the  top  of  the  mountain  at  midnight,  suddenly  a 
light  from  Heaven  shines  upon  the  face  of  one  of 
their  number,  and  he  is  illumined  beyond  any- 
thing man  had  ever  seen  or  heard  of ;  his  gar- 
ments become  whiter  than  any  fuller  on  earth  ever 
wdiitened  them,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  is  seen 
around  the  four.  The  peasants  of  Galilee  fall  to 
the  ground  in  amazement  at  the  vision,  andwdien 
they  open  their  eyes,  by  the  side  of  him  who  is 
so  beautifully  illumined  they  see  two  forms,  one 
of  wdiom  is  Moses,  and  the  other  Elias.  Moses 
has  at  last  entered  into  Canaan  ;  he  is  in  the  very 
land  of  God's  promise,  the  land  of  possession  and 


150  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

privilege,  and  he  may  be  said  to  occui)}^  a  ^josi- 
tion  of  dignity  and  honor  above  all  men  that  ever 
lived,  for  he  is  cheering  the  Son  of  God  in  the 
face  of  his  coming  death  as  the  Saviour  of  the 
world.  0  gracjous,  O  Avonderful  father,  0  ten- 
der friend  to  the  fallen  sinner,  and  yet  a  saint. 
When  Moses  pleaded,"  God  said,  "  No,  it  may 
not  be, "  but  1500  years  afterward  he  sends  Moses 
into  Canaan  to  comfort  Immanuel,  Avho  Avould 
die  for  us  sinners.  Did  Moses  make  a  good  cal- 
culation? Consider  whether  it  is  worth  your 
wdiile  to  be  out  and  out  for  Christ,  or  whether 
you  are  going  to  be  one  of  those  miserable  "half- 
and-halfers,"  trying  to  hold  on  to  your  treas- 
ures and  pleasures  of  Egyj^t. 

A  lady — and  sometimes  a  man,  too — says,  "  I 
cannot  give  them  up,"  flashing  her  diamonds  in 
the  light.  Men,  what  about  your  cigars  and 
your  drinks?  What  about  your  home  comforts 
and  your  pleasures?  I  do  not  say  that  diamonds 
are  wicked ;  God  made  them ;  but  those  beauti- 
ful things  in  the  palace  of  Egypt,  though  there 
may  be  nothing  wicked  in  them,  are  an  allure- 
ment of  the  flesh.  You  must  choose.  Will 
you  esteem  most  the  reproach  of  Christ  and  cal- 
culate for  the  future  1500  years  hence? 

One  step  further.  There  is  eternity,  the  ever- 
lasting home  above,  and  the  sea  of  glory  before 
the  throne  of  God.  Of  all  that  saints  on  earth 
have    ever   envied,   I   suppose  that    they    have 


THE  SFAl  V.  1  NT  OF  GOD.  151 

envied  most  those  who  fall  with  their  harps  be- 
fore God,  and  sing  in  the  glory  of  his  i)resence, 
''Holy,  holy,  holy."  But,  brethren,  tlu  re  is 
one  man  and  only  one  who  ever  composed  a  song 
upon  earth  Avhich  Ave  are  told  is  to  be  sung  in 
heaven  by  the  redeemed  and  the  gloritied.  We 
read  in  ReveUition  xv.  2:  "I  saw  as  it  Avere  a 
sea  of  ghiss,  mingled  Avith  lire :  and  them  that 
had  gotten  the  victory  over  the  beast,  and  over 
his  image,  and  over  his  mark,  and  over  the 
number  of  his  name,  stand  on  the  sea  of  glass, 
having  the  harps  of  God.  And  they  sing  the 
song  of  Moses,  the  servant  of  God,  and  the  song 
of  the  Lamb."  Was  he  a  good  calculator?  He 
makes  one  hymn,  and  it  is  sung  before  God  in 
the  tields  of  glory  by  all  Avho  have  gained  the 
victory  here  beloAv  as  martyrs. 

Christian  friends,  are  you  and  I  draAvn  out, 
draAvn  out  for  God's  purposes  to  be  fulfilled? 
Choose  ye  AAdiom  ye  will  serve.  God  help  you 
to  say  like  Joshua,  the  typical  fulfiller  of  the 
true  Jesus'  purposes,  and  the  man  that  had  to 
take  Moses'  jDlace,  because  of  Moses'  one  sin; 
say  from  the  depths  of  your  heart :  ' '  With  l)ody, 
soul,  and  spirit  all,  '  As  for  me  and  my  house, 
we  will  serve  the  Lord.'  " 


THE  FAITHFUL  LORD. 


"  Behold,  I  set  before  you  tliis  day  a  blessing  and  a  curse  ;  a  bless- 
ing, if  ye  obey  the  conimandnients  of  the  Lord  your  God,  which  I 
command  you  this  day  :  and  a  curse,  if  ye  will  not  obey  the  com- 
mandments of  the  Lord  your  God,  but  turn  aside  out  of  the  way 
which  I  command  you  this  day,  to  go  after  other  gods,  which  ye 
have  not  known." — Deut.  xi.  26-28. 

Some  five  hundred  years  after  these  words 
were  spoken  by  Moses,  the  Lord  God  gave  utter- 
ance through  his  prophet  to  a  wondrous  Psalm 
in  which  we  read  these  words,  ''To-day,  if  ye 
will  hear  his  voice,  harden  not  your  hearts  " 
(Psalms  xcv.  7,  8).  That  Psalm  teaches  us  that 
God  could  not  give  his  people  rest  because  they 
had  not  sufiicient  faith  in  him.  In  the  third  and 
fourth  chapters  of  Hebrews  which  treat  of  the  rest 
of  God,  we  find  the  same  cry  going  up,  ^'  To-day , 
if  ye  will  hear  his  voice."  In  that  fourth 
chapter  of  Hebrews,  we  are  told  that  Jesus 
(Joshua)  did  not  give  the  people  full  rest — a  very 
remarkable  sentence.  It  would  appear  at  first 
sight  as  if  that  were  a  contradiction  to  the  facts 
which  are  so  frequently  detailed  in  the  earlier 


THE  FAITHFUL  LORD.  153 

part  of  Israel's  history,  iiaiuely,  that  God  did 
give  the  people  rest  through  Joshua.  I  hope  to 
show,  however,  that  these  doubts  as  to  God's 
faithfulness  or  seeming  contradictions  have  no 
foundation  in  fact.  I  desire  now  to  point  out 
clearly  what  ought  to  lie  before  you,  and  Avhat 
ought  not  to  lie  before  you,  in  your  endeavor  to 
enter  God's  land  of  possession  and  peace.  If  you 
will  follow  God's  guidance,  take  the  warnings 
given  in  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures. 

Three  great  figures  that  stand  out  prominently 
in  the  history  of  Israel  may  be  combined  to  sym- 
bolize the  person  of  Jesus  Christ— Moses,  Aaron, 
and  Joshua ;  ]\Ioses,  as  the  great  deliverer  and 
lawgiver,  resembling  Jesus  in  his   preliminary 
work   for   us;    Aaron  as  intermediary  between 
God  and  man,  representing  in  his  high-priestly 
character  the  functions  of  Christ  for  the  true  be- 
liever in  reference  to  God ;  and  Joshua,  as  ex- 
hibiting the   great  characteristics   of  our  Lord 
as  our  leader,  our  conqueror,  in  whom  we  pre- 
vail at  every  point,  and  through  whom  we  were 
intended  to  have  all  the  blessings  that  God  de- 
sires his  people  to  enjoy  upon  earth.     Moses  is 
simply  a  type  of  Christ  in  his  relation  to  one 
part  of  man's  soul,  Aaron  in  relation  to  another 
part,  and  Joshua  in  a  third  part,  and  each  type 
needs  to  be  expanded  and  exalted  at  every  point. 
It  is  Avhen  Moses  is  dead,  that  Joshua  comes 
to  the  front  as  the  leader  of  Israel  into  tlie  land 


154  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

of    possession   and   of    privilege.      But    before 
Moses  is  taken  away,  lie  speaks  the  remarkable 
words  found  in  this  eleventh  chapter  of  Deuter- 
onomy.    Seven  times  over  in  this  chapter  Moses, 
the  type  of  Jesus  our  deliverer,  our  lawgiver,  our 
instructor   from    God,    says   to  the    children  of 
Israel,  ' '  You  are  going  into  the  land  to  possess 
it."     It  is  no  use  going  into  the  land,  brethren, 
unless  you  are  prepared  to  j^ossess  it  afterwards. 
It  is  one  thing  for  God  to  give  you  the  land,  it 
is  another  thing  for  you  to  go  in  and  possess  it. 
It  is  one  thing  for  Moses  to  stand  upon  Mount 
Pisgah  and  look  at  the  land,  it  is  another  thing 
for  the    people    to   go    in   and   enjoy   it.      He 
yearned  to  enjoy  it  but  he  could  not,  simply 
because  of  that  one  sin.     His  experience  is  typ- 
ical of  the  fact  that  neither  deliverer  nor  law- 
giver is  sufficient  for  man's  full  salvation ;  even 
the  high  j^riest  is  not  sufficient,  for  he,  too,  died 
in  the  wilderness.     To  enter  the  land  we  must 
have  a  conqueror,  the  Cax)tain  of  our  salvation, 
to  take  us  in.     We  must  obey  his  command- 
ments which  are  the  same  as  those  of  Moses.     It 
will  not  suffice  to  acknowledge  that  there  is  a 
perfect  law,  and  say  that  it  is  too  holy  for  me.    I 
must  follow  my  Captain,  and  enter  through  him. 
The  Captain  brings  us  the  same  ten  command- 
ments,  the  same  revelation  of  the  holiness  of 
God,  the  same  demands  upon  character  and  con- 
duct  as   Moses   brought   when   he   came    down 


THE  FAITHFUL  LORD.  155 

from  Sinai  with  the  tables  of  stone.  We  cannot 
escape  from  God  if  we  wish  victory  and  peace. 
We  shall  never  go  to  heaven  unless  we  are  ready 
to  live  with  God  here  on  earth.  Israel  failed 
because  they  did  not  bow  every  faculty  in  con- 
tinual submission  to  God's  holy  commandments. 
They  took  simsmodically  the  revelation  of  God's 
will  and  tried  to  live  up  to  it  for  a  few  moments, 
but  they  w^ent  back  to  the  carnal  appetites  of 
the  llesh,  and  did  not  serve  God  all  the  days  of 
their  life. 

When  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  sent  the  Holy 
Ghost  from  heaven,  he  told  the  disciples  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  would  come  to  convince  (or  con- 
vict) men  of  sin,  of  righteousness,  and  of  judg- 
ment. I  humbly  believe  that  the  convicung 
w^ork  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  as  needful  a  prelude 
to  the  spiritual  enjoyment  of  believers,  as  it  is 
for  the  world  at  large  before  its  peace  is  made 
with  God  through  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  Be- 
fore the  Holy  Spirit  can  guide  Christians  into  all 
truth,  he  must  come  to  them  individually,  and 
convict  them  in  the  sense  that  he  tells  them  of 
whatever  is  still  wrong  in  their  lives,  which 
keeps  them  from  enjoying  the  full  blessing  of 
God.  We  are  to  pass  judgment  upon  the  god 
of  this  world — no  longer  the  prince — as  well  as 
upon  ourselves.  Then  the  Holy  Ghost  will 
o'uide  us  into  all  truth,  and  make  us  able  to 
enter  the  green  pastures  of  God's  love,  the  rich 


150  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

mountains  of  God's  provision,  and  the  grand 
cities  wliicli  God  has  prepared  for  lis  to  inhabit 
and  enjoy.  My  brother/'  To-day,  if  ye  will  hear 
his  voice,  harden  not  your  hearts."  Pray  God 
that  you  may  not  be  kept  from  entering  into 
the  enjoyment  of  God's  blessings  because  of  un- 
belief. 

In  the  words  which  Moses  speaks  to  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  just  before  he  was  taken  from 
them,  he  speaks  of  ''the  days  of  heaven  upon 
earth''  (Deuteronomy  xi.  21),  as  representing 
the  enjoyment  which  Israel  should  know  if  they 
would  only  go  in  and  possess  the  land,  and  obey 
the  Lord.  Pause  now,  as  it  were,  at  the  gate  of 
that  land,  on  the  east  of  Jordan,  while  the  ark, 
having  entered  the  stream  of  life — not  death — 
stands  waiting  until  all  Israel  shall  have  passed 
over  and  entered  into  the  good  land  to  take  pos- 
session. The  Red  Sea,  as  the  water  of  salt,  typi- 
fies death ;  the  Jordan  is  a  living  stream  rushing 
down  from  above,  and  we  are  waiting  our  turn 
to  go  through  it,  past  the  ark,  into  the  good 
land.  Brethren,  what  are  you  expecting?  Let 
us  notice  briefly  what  God  intended  that  land  of 
Canaan  to  be  to  his  people. 

The  Lord  told  Joshua  of  three  things  which 
the  people  should  have  Avhen  they  crossed  Jor- 
dan. First,  he  promised  them  the  land,  j^os ses- 
sion, when  he  says  (Joshua  i.  2):  "Moses,  my 
servant,  is  dead;  now,  therefore,  arise,  go  over 


THK  FAITHFUL  LORD.  157 

this  Jordan,  thou  mid  all  this  people,  unto  the 
hnid  which  I  do  give  to  them,  even  to  the  clnl- 
dren  of  Israel.  Every  place  that  the  sole  of  your 
foot  shall  tread  upon,  that  have  I  given  unto 
vou,  as  I  said  unto  Moses.  From  the  wilderness 
and'this  Lebanon,  even  unto  the  great  river,  the 
river  Euphrates,  all  the  hmd  of  the  Ilittites,  and 
unto  the  great  sea  toward  the  going  down  of  the 
sun,  Shalt  be  your  coast.'' 

In  the  second  place  he  promised  them  mctory 
(;verse5),  "There  shall  not  any  man  l)e  able  to 
stand  before  thee  all  the  days  of  thy  life;  as  I 
was  with  Moses,  so  I  will  bejdth  thee;  I  will 
not  fail  thee  nor  forsake  thee." 

The  third  blessing  promised  was  rest  (verse 
15)  "Until  the  Lord  have  given  your  brethren 
rest  as  he  hath  given  you,  and  they  also  have 
possessed  the  land  which  the  Lord  your  God 
oiveth  them  :  then  ye  shall  return  unto  the  laud 
of  your  possession  and  enjoy  it,  which  Moses,  the 
Lord's  servant,  gave  you  on  this  side  of  Jordan, 
toward  the  sun  rising." 

These  three  blessings  sum  up  the  life  of  holi- 
ness, the  life  of  privilege,  the  life  of  power,  the 
life  of  peace,  to  which  the  Lord  calls  you.  From 
this  day  forth  you  are  to  know  the  perpetual 
enjovment  of  a^  possession  which  opens  out  be- 
fore^ your  soul's  eye  broader  and  grander  every 
day.  Our  possession  is  the  unsearchable  riches 
of  Christ.     Secondly,  you  are  to  know  unceasing 


158  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

victory,  with  never  an  enemy  that  shall  conquer 
you  again.  As  St.  Paul  says  in  the  eighth  of 
Romans,  "In  all  these  things  we  are  more  than 
conquerors  through  him  that  loved  us.  '^  Thirdly, 
the  rest  and  calm  of  soul,  the  enjoyment  of  spirit  is 
never  to  be  interrupted.  You  say,  ' '  Imi)ossib]e  ! ' ' 
Then,  my  brethren,  it  will  be  impossible.  Israel 
entered  not  in  througli  unbelief,  and  you  will 
fail  through  unbelief  just  in  proportion  as  you 
doubt  your  God. 

Moses  saw  beforehand  that  the  children  of 
Israel  were  to  have  the  oi)portunity  to  enjoy 
these  privileges.  He  says,  first  (Deut.  xi.  22-24), 
' '  If  ye  shall  diligently  keep  all  these  command- 
ments, the  Lord  will  drive  out  all  these  nations 
from  before  you,  and  ye  shall  possess  greater 
nations  and  mightier  than  yourselves.  Every 
place  whereon  the  soles  of  your  feet  shall  tread 
shall  be  yours ;  from  the  wilderness  and  Leba- 
non, from  the  river,  the  river  Euphrates,  even 
unto  the  uttermost  sea  shall  your  coast  be." 
Secondly,  he  says  (verse  25\  "There  shall  no 
man  be  able  to  stand  before  you ;  for  the  Lord 
God  shall  lay  the  fear  of  you  and  the  dread  of 
you  upon  all  the  land  that  ye  shall  tread  upon 
as  he  hath  said  unto  you."  And  thirdly  (xii.  9), 
he  says,  "Ye  are  not  as  yet  come  to  the  rest 
and  to  the  inheritance  which  the  Lord  your  God 
giveth  you."  Here  again  we  have  the  threefold 
promise,  the  land,  victory,  and  rest. 


THE  FATTIIFUL  LORD.  I59 

The  question  for  iis  is:  Did  this  promise  ever 
come  to  jiass,  and  how  far  can  Ave  enjoy  it? 
These  same  promises  are  given  to  Joshua  (Josliua 
i.)  as  the  blessings  which  he  and  his  people 
should  enjoy,  so  far  as  they  trusted  and  ol)eyed 
the  Lord,  and  later  on  in  the  history  (Joshua 
xxi.  43-45),  we  find  the  remarkable  statement: 
''And  the  Lord  gave  unto  Israel  all  the  land 
which  he  sware  to  give  unto  their  fathers ;  and 
they  possessed  it,  and  dwelt  therein.  And  the 
Lord  gave  them  rest  round  about,  according  to 
all  that  he  sware  unto  their  fathers :  and  there 
stood  not  a  man  of  all  their  enemies  before 
them ;  the  Lord  delivered  all  their  enemies  into 
their  hand.  There  failed  not  aught  of  any  good 
thing  which  the  Lord  had  spoken  unto  the 
house  t)f  Israel ;  all  came  to  pass."  There  again 
is  land,  rest,  and  victory.  Then  when  Joshua  is 
making  his  dying  speech  to  the  people,  he  says 
(Joshua  xxiii.  14):  "Ye  know  .  .  .  that 
not  one  thing  hath  failed  of  all  the  good  things 
which  the  Lord  your  God  spoke  concerning 
you."^ 


*  Putting  these  statements  from  the  twenty-first  and  twenty-third  chapters 
side  by  side  with  the  facts  recorded  in  the  other  parts  of  Joshua  and  Judges, 
I  should  be  tempted,  at  tirst,  like  the  "  higher  critics  "  of  the  day,  to  see  dis- 
crepancies between  one  passage  and  another,  and  to  wonder  if  it  does  not 
prove  that  the  book  is  a  mere  make-up  from  different  writers,  without  any 
consideration  of  literary  truth  and  literary  justice,  and  therefore  to  be  de- 
spised and  thrown  aside  if  we  will.  God  says  to  Moses, ''  Tell  them  they  shall 
have  the  land  from  the  Euphrates  to  the  Mediterranean  ;  they  shall  have  vic- 
tory over  every  enemy,  and  they  shall  have  perfect  rest  with  undisturbed 
enjoyment  of  the  comfort  of  life."    Joshua  at  the  close  of  his  life  says,  "  You 


1(^0  THE  YTCTOPJOUS  LIFE. 

Let  US  turn  to  the  facts  and  see  first  of  all,  if 
the  children  of  Israel  ever  did  take  possession  of 
the  land  from  the  Mediterranean  to  the  Eu- 
phmtes.  Tliev  have  never  possessed  a  fifth  part 
of  it  to  this  day,  thongli  God  promised  Abraham 
that  they  should  have  it  (Genesis  xv.  18),  promised 
Moses  that  they  should  have  it  (Deuteronomy 
xi.  23),  and  records  the  same  promise  in  Joshua 
xxi.  4.  Yet  Joshua  says  that  there  has  not  one 
thing  failed  of  all  that  was  i)romised— land,  vic- 
tory, and  rest.  What  is  the  solution  of  the 
mystery? 

In  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Joshua  (lG-23)  we 
read:  "So  Joshua  took  all  that  land,  the  hills 
and  all  the  south  country  and  all  the  land  of 
Goshen,  and  the  valley,  and  the  plain,  and  the 
mountain  of  Israel,  and  the  valley  of  the  same ; 
even  from  the  mount  Halak,  that  goeth  up  to 
Seir,  even  unto  Baal-gad  in  the  valley  of  Leb- 
anon under  mount  Hermon.  .  .  .  Joshua  made  war 
a  long  time  with  all  those  kings.  There  w^as  not 
a  city  that  made  i:)eace  with  the  children  of  Is- 
rael, save  the  Hivites,  the  inhabitants  of  Gibeon  : 
all  others  they  took  in  battle    .     .    .  that  they 


have  it  all,"  and  the  historian  says,  "  God  gave  them  all  these  things— the 
land,  rest,  and  victory  over  every  enemy."  Then  I  look  at  the  contrary  facts  as 
the  historian  records  them  and  say,  Was  the  man  a  fool  ?  Did  he  know  what 
he  said  ?  He  says  that  Moses  told  the  children'of  Israel  that  they  should  have 
these  three  things,  that  Joshua  says  they  had  them,  and  he  himself  adds  as  if 
to  confirm  Joshuas  words,  "  You  have  them  all,"  and  yet  he  tells  us  that  they 
never  really  enjoyed  any  of  them.  The  explanation  of  the  seeming  discrep- 
ancy is,  however,  not  diflBcult  as  we  shall  see. 


THE  FAITHFUL  LORD.  161 

might  have  no  favor,  but  tliat  iie  might  destroy 

tliem,   as  the  Lord  commanded  Moses. 

And  tlie  Lmd  rested  from  war."    There  are  the 

same  tliree  tilings  secured  —  hmd,   victory,   and 

rest. 

But  have  tliey  taken  all  the  land  when  Joshua 
speaks  to  them  ?  Look  at  xiii.  1 .  "  Now,  Joshua 
was  old  and  stricken  in  years ;  and  the  Lord  said 
unto  him,  thou  art  old  and  stricken  in  years,  and 
there  renuiineth  yet  very  much  land  to  be  i)os- 
sessed."  There  is  land  yet  to  be  i^ossessed; 
what  about  the  people?  "Nevertheless,  the 
children  of  Israel  expelled  not  the  Geshurites,  nor 
the  Maachathites :  but  the  Geshurites  and  the 
Maachathites  dwell  among  the  Israelites  until 
this  day"  (xiii.  18).  Those  are  the  very  people 
Avho  should  have  been  destroyed.  The  hmd 
is  not  fully  possessed,  the  people  are  not  fully 
taken,  and  who  can  say  they  have  rest  when 
we  read  (Heb.  iv.  9)  that  ''Jesus  (Joshua)  did 
not  give  them  rest  ? ' ' 

Why,  and  how  were  they  limited  in  the  en- 
joyment of  these  promises?  In  the  second 
chapter  of  Judges  (ver.  7,  10)  we  see  what  liaj)- 
pened  to  those  people,  for  ' '  The  people  served 
the  Lord  all  the  days  of  Joshua,  and  all  the  days 
of  the  elders  that  outlived  Joshua,  who  had  seen 
all  the  great  works  of  the  Lord  that  he  did  for 
Israel.  .  .  .  There  arose  another  generation 
after  them  which  knew  not  the  Lord,  nor  yet  the 


1G2  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

works  whicli  he  had  done  for  Israel."  Now  we 
begin  to  see  the  explanation.  God  provided  a 
Moses  to  bring'  Israel  out  of  Egypt  and  to  draw 
them  to  himself  that  they  ma}^  be  his  people.  God 
provided  a  Passover  Lamb,  the  dying  Saviour,  to 
give  you  full  deliverance,  and  you  took  it.  The 
moment  you  claimed  salvation  God  took  you  to 
Mount  Sinai,  and  said,  '  'Will  you  take  my  will?  " 
Some  of  you  turned  back  to  perish  in  the  wilder- 
ness. It  took  Israel  forty  years  to  do  what  they 
might  have  done  in  eleven  days.  Through  the 
high  priest  many  of  you  have  communion  and 
fellowship  with  the  Lord,  and  are  rejoicing  in 
the  ever-living  Joshua,  our  Jesus,  who  says.  "I 
will  take  you  in."  God  through  Christ  opens  a 
land  of  i^rivilege  and  says,  "Will  you  go  in  and 
possess  it?"  The  moment  you  go  in,  instead  of 
having  to  eat  manna  and  to  draw  water  from  the 
rock,  you  find  yourself  in  the  possession  of  spir- 
itual riches  and  j^rivileges  that  transcend  the 
utmost  of  your  expectation.  Some  have  known 
what  it  was  to  possess  a  part  of  the  land,  but  how 
much  have  you?  Only  that  on  which  the  sole 
of  your  foot  hath  trod.  You  will  never  possess 
any  more  of  Christ  than  you  claim  as  your  own. 
You  do  not  gain  God's  blessing  by  storing  away 
books  full  of  notes ;  you  must  take  God's  truth 
into  your  very  soul,  and  feast  upon  it.  What 
good  will  abundance  of  food,  or  water  or  money 
do  you,  if  it  is   unclaimed  and    unused?     The 


THE  FAITHFUL  LORD.  163 

money  that  a  man  takes  from  tlie  bank  is  his  en- 
joyable |)ossession,  that  whiclihehas  in  tlie  bank 
is  only  his  lawful  possession.  You  cannot  pass 
through  the  riches  of  God  except  by  the  study 
of  this  blessed  Book,  and  by  constantly  dealing 
with  God  in  prayer.  You  must  go  as  Abra- 
ham did  upon  the  hill,  and  lift  up  your  eyes 
and  look  northward  and  southward,  and  east- 
ward and  westward,  and  hear  the  living  God 
say,  '*  As  long  as  you  are  not  joined  unto  the 
doubtful  man  Lot,  as  long  as  you  are  not  allied 
to  the  half -believer  I  give  you  the  whole."  Abra- 
ham enjoyed  in  Canaan  every  rod  of  land 
over  which  he  walked.  We  read  repeatedly  in 
Genesis,  that  ''The  Canaanite  and  the  Perizzite 
were  then  in  the  land"  (xii.  7;  xiii.  6).  I  used 
to  be  perplexed  to  know  the  meaning  of  that 
statement,  but  now^  I  believe  that  I  understand  it. 
The  Canaanite  and  the  Perizzite  were  there  as 
Abraham's  enemy,  to  keep  back  his  flocks 
and  his  herds  from  enjoying  the  pastures ;  but 
though  they  were  in  the  land,  Abraham  walked 
through  the  length  and  breadth  of  it,  and  had 
free  enjoyment  of  every  camping  ground  at 
which  he  chose  to  stop,  even  though  the 
Canaanite  was  there,  because  God  was  with  him. 
The  day  is  coming  when  the  Jew^s  shall  possess 
that  land,  even  to  the  Euphrates,  and  Israel 
must  l)e  saved  and  take  possession.  I  honor  the 
Rothschilds  if,  as  I  have  heard,  they  said,  that 


104  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

they  would  never  buy  Canaan,  because  it  was 
already  their  own.  Brethren,  do  not  try  to  buy 
what  God  has  given  you. 

When  I  lived  in  Herefordshire,  there  was  one 
very  rich  num  in  my  parish,  who  had  a  sudden 
X)aralytic  stroke  while  I  was  away  from  home  for 
a  holiday.  He  was  a  common  ignorant  farmer, 
and  had  come  into  eighty  thousand  pounds 
tiirough  the  death  of  a  brother.  He  had  told 
me  that  he  did  not  care  far  his  brother's  money, 
because  he  had  as  much  as  he  wanted  before, 
and  yet  he  had  not  given  more  than  sixpence  a 
year  for  charity.  As  soon  as  I  returned  home  I 
went  down  to  see  him  and  he  said,  "The  Lord 
has  stricken  me  and  I  am  afraid  I  may  die.  I 
have  sent  for  you  at  once  that  I  may  do  what  I 
suppose  is  right  before  God;  I  want  to  go  to 
heaven,  and  I  want  you  to  take  a  hundred 
pounds  for  the  poor. ' '  I  looked  him  straight  in 
the  face,  and  said,  "  Do  you  think  you  are  going 
to  buy  your  soul's  way  to  glory  by  a  dirty 
hundred  pounds !  Give  your  money  where  you 
like,  I  will  not  touch  it."  That  w^as  rather 
strong ;  but  blessed  be  God,  the  man  lived  seven 
years,  and  was  a  very  different  man  before  he 
died. 

Take  the  land  that  God  has  given  you.  The 
Canaanites  are  there,  but  they  cannot  touch  you. 
They  always  bowled  down  to  Abraham  and  called 
him  "niv  lord."   Your  enemies  will  do  the  same 


THE  FAITHFUL  LORD.  105 

to  YOU  as  long  as  you  put  your  trust  iu  God,  and 
daiiu  the  riches  of  Christ.  Chum  a  perpetually 
holy  life  that  shall  know  no  interruption ;  claim 
power  to  carrv  out  the  character  of  Christ  be- 
fore the  world,  and  let  them  see  that  you  have  a 
glorious  dignity,  a  holy  privilege,  and  a  mighty 

power. 

The  children  of  Israel  possessed  just  so  much 
of  that  land  as  they  put  their  foot  upon  and  no 
more ;  therefore,  when  Joshua  came  to  die  he 
looked  around  and  said,  -We  have  had  great 
possessions  given  us  from  the  Lord,  but  you 
must  not  rest  here;  there  remaineth  yet  very 
much  land  to  be  possessed. "     It  is  the  same  with 

us. 

"  Have  you  on  the  Lord  believed  ? 
Still  there's  more  to  follow." 

Yes,  always  more;  the  Lord  is  ready  to  give  you 
mighty  treasures  in  the  land  of  privilege  when 
you  put  your  trust  in  him. 

The  children  of  Israel  were  told  in  the  second 
place  that  they  should  have  ^/c^^or^  over  all  their 
enemies.  Was  this  ever  completely  fullilled? 
Jericho's  walls  fell  down,  but  a  few  days  after 
ward  miserable  little  Ai,  with  its  twelve  thousand 
people,  was  able  to  beat  back  all  the  tribes  of  Is- 
rael There  was  an  accursed  thing  in  the  camp ! 
God  cannot  bless  and  give  the  victory  so  long  as 
you  allow  one  damnable  thing  in  you.     You  ask 


166  THE  VTCTOBTOrS  LIFE. 

'' AVliat  is  a  dainiiable  thing?  I  have  my  little 
iulirmities,  I  am  very  fond  of  my  little  money- 
bag, my  Babylonish  garments,  but  what  is  the 
harm?''  Brethren,  there  will  be  no  victory 
while  you  set  your  heart  on  these  accursed  things. 
There  is  no  harm  in  the  Babylonish  garment  in 
itself,  but  it  is  stealing  the  heart  and  damning 
your  soul.  You  must  deal  Avith  God.  If  you 
set  your  hearts  upon  his  commandments  to  keep 
them,  then  the  Lord  shall  give  you  the  victory ; 
but  no  more  of  victory  than  you  have  a  clear  con- 
science, and  have  offered  yourself  a  whole-hearted 
sacrifice  unto  God.  Stone  the  accursed  thing  and 
victory  will  be  yours.  "Up,  wherefore  liest  thou 
thus  upon  thy  face,''  there  is  an  accursed  thing 
in  the  camp.  Israel  took  only  a  fifth  of  the  land. 
How  much  did  they  conquer  of  the  people  ?  One 
of  the  most  pitiful  arithmetical  progressions  I 
ever  read  is  from  the  thirteenth  chaj)ter  of  Joshua 
through  the  book  of  Judges ;  especially  in  the 
book  of  Judges  where  we  read  that  they  began 
to  take  the  land  piece  by  i3iece.  Judah  first  let 
the  Jebusites  stay  in  Jerusalem ;  next,  they 
could  not  drive  them  out;  then  the  Jebusites 
drive  the  children  of  Israel  out ;  next,  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  are  in  bondage  and  captivity  to 
the  very  men  whom  they  were  to  conquer ;  and 
then  comes  that  life  of  ups  and  downs,  the  very 
pictui-e  of  the  greater  part  of  the  Christian 
church  to-day.     The  Israelites  have  only  dark- 


THE  FATTIIFVL  LORD.  167 

nessaufi  distress.  God  raises  up  an  Otliniel,  and 
the  land  has  peace  for  forty  years.  Then  down 
they  go  again,  and  God  raises  np  an  Khud,  and 
they  have  peace  for  eighty  years.  Then  there  is 
bondage  to  Sisera  and  God  gives  them  a  Deb- 
orah. Here  is  a  female  vessel  which  is  nsed  of 
God.  But  down  they  go  again,  and  so  through- 
out the  book  of  Judges  you  have  the  typical 
scene,  the  i)eoi)le  of  God  in  possession  of  the 
land  with  promised  victory  over  every  foe,  but 
up  and  down,  up  and  down,  though  w^e  read 
of  forty  years'  rest,  and  eighty  years'  rest,  yet 
they  are  again  brought  into  captivity  under 
their  enemies.  Why?  Because  they  never  trust 
the  Lord,  because  they  never  go  forward,  be- 
cause they  are  never  loyal.  Those  are  the 
I)eoi^le  who  say  that  they  have  all  the  land  in 
possession,  and  are  to  have  victory  over  every 
foe. 

Thirdly,  the  Lord  promised  them  rest^  and 
Joshua  could  say  that  the  Lord  had  given  them 
the  land,  and  victory,  and  rest  round  about; 
but  rest  from  how  many  of  their  enemies? 
They  had  conquered  thirty-one  kings,  but  there 
remained  yet  to  be  thorns  in  their  side,  many  of 
the  nations  which  they  ought  to  have  o\'er- 
thrown.  The  land  had  no  rest,  because  they 
never  fully  trusted  the  Loud  their  God.  That  is 
the  case  with  multitudes  to-day  wdio  call  them- 
selves Christians.  The  Lord  never  broke  his  word. 


168  THE  VTC'TORIOUS  LIFE. 

Israel  had  all  the  j)i'ivileges  that  they  could 
take ;  so  you  will  have.  Wheu  I  see  a  man  or 
woman  excited  at  a  conference  and  saying, 
' '  This  is  delightful,  this  is  heavenly,  this  is 
grand;  do  just  give  me  a  text."  AYell,  thank 
God,  if  a  text  helps  you,  but  you  will  never  get 
any  more  than  you  put  your  foot  upon  and  claim 
of  this  Bible.  Do  you  suppose  because  a  man 
dishes  up  a  few  of  God's  truths  for  you  by  the 
teaching  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  you  have  the 
whole  of  the  land?  Brethren,  w^e  only  give 
you  a  key;  go  in  and  you  will  have  all  the 
pomegranates,  and  all  the  corn,  and  grapes, 
and  the  treasures  of  brass,  iron,  and  stone  for 
your  own ;  but  you  must  walk  for  them.^  You 
must  walk  all  through  the  land  and  take  posses- 
sion of  it,  then  you  must  drive  out  your  ene- 
mies. What  did  St.  Paul  mean  when  he  said  to 
the  Ephesians,  "Let  not,  let  not,  let  not?" 
That  one  expression  goes  all  through  the  pas- 
sage. In  the  sixth  chapter  he  tells  us  that  there 
are  enemies  wiio  are  seeking  to  drive  us  out,  to 
bind  God's  i3eo]3le  in  their  own  land;  the 
old  enemies  will  rise  up  against  you,  who  have 
taken  their  land,  and  they  mean  to  take  it  away 
from  you,  and  they  will  unless  you  have  the 
grace  of  God  to  go  forward  courageously  and 
light  the  good  fight  of  faith.     When  a  soldier  is 


*So  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  the  Apostle  mentions  the  seven  walks  of 
the  Christian. 


THE  FAITHFUL  LORD.  169 

placed  upon  guard  he  has  to  be  more  watchful 
than  at  any  other  time.  It  may  bf^  in  darkness, 
and  yet  he  has  to  be  alive  and  earnest.  You 
cannot  claim  these  blessings  which  the  Lord  is 
prepared  to  give,  except  in  the  measure  in  which 
you  are  found  both  treading  upon  the  land 
which  God  offers  you,  and  watching  and  using 
the  whole  armor  of  God. 

How  far  may  rest  be  had?  Just  so  far  as  I 
have  perfect  confidence  in  God.  There  is  a  dif- 
ference between  faith  and  faithfulness.  Faith 
takes,  and  faithfulness  carries  out  God's  bless- 
ings in  the  individuaTs  experience.  I  must  be 
faithful  unto  death,  if  I  am  to  have  the  crown 
of  life.  The  Lord  is  asking  us  to  trust  him  one 
step  at  a  time,  one  moment  at  a  time.  The  life 
we  profess  to  live  is  a  life  of  holy  rest,  a  life 
filled  instantaneously  with  all  the  grand  x)ossi- 
bilities  which  God  offers  in  himself. 

Israel  have  failed  u^  to  this  very  day  because 
of  their  unbelief.  Joshua  says,  ''Not  one  thing 
hath  failed  of  all  that  God  promised,"  and  that  is 
true  up  to  the  extent  that  the  people  had  carried 
out  the  commands  and  counsels  of  the  living 
God.  As  far  as  you  trust  God  you  will  find 
that  he  is  giving  you  perpetual  victory  and 
enjoyment.  The  promise  is  as  full  as  it  can  be 
even  from  the  living  God.  The  possession  and 
enjoyment  and  power  are  full  only  so  far  as  you 
trust  him.    There  comes  into  your  heart,  x^erhaps. 


170  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

a  seuse  of  shame,  and,  I  liope,  a  willingness 
to  coijfess  that  you  have  known  so  little,  en- 
joyed so  little,  been  victorious  so  little,  and  rested 
so  little  in  the  Lord  in  the  days  that  are  gone 
by.  Christ  is  all  in  all  for  every  need  of  man. 
Thanks  be  unto  God  for  his  unspeakable  gift ;  I 
have  Christ,  and  shall  not  Christ  have  me? 
When  people  say,  ''I  want  more  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,"  I  answer,  "The  Holy  Ghost  wants 
more  of  you."  The  question  is  not,  How  much 
you  can  take  in  of  the  Spirit,  but  how  much  the 
Spirit  can  take  possession  of  you.  If  you  will 
yield  yourself  to  the  living  God  with  the  convic- 
tion that  he  is  all  that  every  man  can  want ;  not 
one  good  thing  shall  fail,  any  more  than  it  has 
failed  in  the  past,  of  all  that  the  Lord  our  God 
hath  promised. 


STAND   FAST. 


"  Therefore,  mv  brethren,  dearly  beloved  and  longed  for,  my 
joy  and  crown,  so  stand  fast  in  the  Lord,  my  dearly  beloved."— PAt7. 
iv.  1. 

HoLii^ESS  must  be  carefully  distinguished  from 
righteousness.  They  are  closely  allied,  for  one 
is  the  fruit  of  the  other;  yet  holiness  is  not 
really  greater  than  righteousness,  nor  is  right- 
eousness greater  than  holiness.  I  think,  how- 
ever, that  we  are  justified  in  speaking  of  holiness 
as  a  great  advance  upon  righteousness  in  the 
sense  that  holiness  must  be  the  offspring  of 
righteousness,  and  since  no  man  can  know  what 
holiness  is  until  by  God's  grace  he  is  made  par- 
taker of  ''the  righteousness  of  God,  which  is 
by  faith  of  Jesus  Christ  unto  all  and  upon  all 
them  that  believe."  Righteousness,  says  Dr. 
Horatius  Bonar,^Ms  legal  perfection ;  holiness  is 
spiritual  character.  Holiness  is  an  advance 
upon   righteousness,!   for  righteousness   is   de- 


*  God's  Way  of  Holiness. 

t  If  this  be  true,  it  may  puzzle  some  that  we  should  read  (Luke  i.  74-75)  that 
we  are  to  be  delivered  from  the  hand  ofiour  enemies,  that  we  may  "  serve  him 
in  holiness  and  righteousness  before  him  all  the  days  of  our  life."  There  holi- 
ness is  placed  before  righteousness,  but  this  word  for  holiness  is  o6ior7/<i, 


172  THE  VICTOR lOrS  LIFE. 

clared  to  be  a  gift ;  while  holiness  is  the  mani- 
festation of  that  righteousness  in  the  life.  We 
have  no.part  Avhatever  in  obtaining  the  gift,  but 
holiness  is  dependent  upon  the  extent  to  which 
we  accept  Him  who  brings  us  righteousness,  as  a 
gift  from  God.  l^o  man  will  ever  be  made  holy, 
as  God  requires  that  we  should  be  holy,  who  has 
not  gratefully  accepted  the  gift  from  God,  the 
gift  which  means  to  us  perfect  acquittal  and 
perfect  acceptance  through  the  righteousness 
which  God  has  provided  in  Christ.  Remember 
that  your  acceptance  before  God  depends  in  no 
sense  whatever  upon  your  own  conduct  or  char- 
acter. But  also  remember  that  for  your  fellowship 
with  God  and  your  final  fruition  in  glory,  every- 
thing depends  upon  your  own  character  and  con- 
duct. While  righteousness  is  a  free  gift  to  them 
that  are  utterly  undeserving,  holiness  is  the 
working  out  of  that  which  God  bestows,  so  that 
the  credit  must  always  be  his  in  both  cases. 

The  gift  of  righteousness  then  is  Christ  Jesus, 
the  Lord,  taking  my  place  as  a  sinner,  and  giv- 
ing me  his  place,  as  a  saint.  We  are,  therefore, 
accepted  in  the  Beloved  without  credit,  without 
effort  of  any  kind ;  simply  because  by  faith  we 


whereas  elsewhere,  when  we  are  enjoined  to  be  holy,  the  word  is  ayio6a6c,, 
ayibrri<i,  or  ayiGo6vyrj,  the  fruit.  In  Luke  i.  74-75,  we  are  simply 
called  upon  to  be  dedicated  to  God,  and  therefore  are  to  be  made  righteous 
in  our  life,  so  that  the  righteousness  of  the  law  may  be  fulfilled  in  us  who 
walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit.  The  holiness  generally  spoken  ol 
is  the  fruit  of  righteousness  (Rom.  vi.  22). 


STAXD  FAST.  173 

take  what  God  bestows.  Holiness,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  won  by  the  goodness  of  God.  Christ 
reveals  himself  throngh  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
deigns  to  work  in  me  to  enable  me  to  do  what 
God  desires.  The  one  is  wronght  for  me,  the 
other  is  wronght  in  me.  Righteonsness  makes  the 
vessel  meat,  holiness  exhibits  the  extent  to  which 
it  is  nsed  by  the  Lord  himself.  There  mnst  then 
not  be  righteousness  only,  but  there  must  be  ho- 
liness in  every  Christian  man  and  woman  be- 
cause God  demands  it. 

I  wonder  not  that  the  scorning  skeptic  so  often 
mocks  at  the  Christian,  because  he  says  that  they 
cowardly  cringe  at  the  foot  of  the  cross,  ready  to 
take  God's  gift  like  a  sneak,  but  show  nothing 
as  a  fruit  of  that  blessed  gift.  Remember  that 
God  demands,  and  where  God  demands  he  en- 
ables, and  where  God  enables,  he  expects  us  to 
fulfill. 

The  Apostle  Paul  has  been  exhibiting  this 
truth  to  the  Christians  at  Philippi  through  the 
first  three  chapters  of  his  Epistle.  The  Philip - 
pian  Epistle  differs  much  from  the  Ephesian 
Epistle,  and  from  the  Colossian  Epistle,  al- 
though all  three  were  written  during  St.  Paul's 
imprisonment  at  Rome.  The  Ephesian  Epistle 
shows  us  what  Ave  are  to  God  in  Christ  Jesus, 
and  the  Colossian  Epistle  what  Christ  is  to  us 
in  the  presence  of  God.  But  in  the  Philip- 
pian    Epistle   the  Apostle   speaks   of    what  we 


174  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

should  he  for  God  in  the  midst  of  our  fellow- 
men,  and  what  Christ  is  to  l)e  to  us  down  here  in 
our  own  every-day  life  witli  its  duties,  difficul- 
ties, temptations,  and  trials.  God  expects  great 
things  of  us,  brethren;  the  world  and  the  devil 
expect  great  things  of  us.  The  devil  is  watch- 
ing to  see  what  the  grace  of  God  can  do  in  the 
Church,  and  the  devil's  one  design  is  to  over- 
throw and  defeat  the  grand  i)urposes  of  God 
with  regard  to  Ilis  redeemed  ones.  The  great 
work  of  the  world  is  to  scorn  tlie  Christian  if  they 
can.  The  great  work  of  God  is  to  bring  about 
such  fruit  of  holiness  in  the  Christian  church 
that  while  the  world  hates,  and  the  devil  abhors, 
both  shall  l)e  compelled  to  marvel  at  the  won- 
drous workings  of  God. 

Are  you  prepared  to  let  the  works  of  God  be 
carried  out  in  you?  To  be  a  perfect  astonish- 
ment to  both  the  good  and  the  evil  principalities 
and  powers  in  the  heavenlies?  St.  Paul  says 
that  we  are  saved  to  be  the  numifestation  of  the 
manifold  wisdom  of  God  to  all  those  wondrous 
beings  above. 

The  Apostle  is  calling  upon  the  Philippians  to 
exhibit  Christ  in  their  daily  life,  and  at  the 
beginning  of  the  fourth  chapter  he  has  just  solved 
his  own  problem  Avitli  regard  to  the  church  of 
God,  and  its  provision,  and  he  now  writes  that 
one  word  which  is  the  turning  point  from  the 
doctrinal  to   the   experimental  in  nearly  every 


STAND  FAST.  175 

one  of  his  Epistles,  and  lie  says,  "  Titer ef ore,  my 
brethren,  dearly  beloved  and  longed  for,  my  joy 
and  crown,  so  steadfast  in  the  Lord,  my  dearly 
beloved." 

''Therefore,"  why?  Because  of  the  provis- 
ion of  righteousness  in  Christ  spoken  of  in  the 
third  chapter;  because  of  that  humiliation  of 
Christ  which  brought  salvation,  spoken  of  in  the 
second  chapter ;  because  of  that  glorious  comfort 
and  love  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  spoken  of 
originally  in  the  first  chapter. 

Thus  we  see  first  (chapter  iii.),  that  St.  Paul 
puts  himself  forward  as  an  illustration  of  what 
Christ  would  do  in  providing  a  righteousness  for 
which  they  aspire ;  and  this  aspiration,  which 
was  to  him  an  obligation,  lifted  the  Apostle  to 
the  one  insatiable  ambition,  to  be  conformed  to 
the  image  of  Christ,  his  glorious  Saviour  and 
perfect  example;  to  come  close  to  Christ,  his 
beloved  friend;  to  be  accepted  of  Christ  m  the 
day  of  reward.  He  was  looking  forward  to 
obtaining  crowns,  as  a  runner  in  the  race,  and 
he  writes  to  those  Philippians  whom  he  loved, 
and  says,  "  O  ve  Philippians,  be  my  crown!  " 

I  think  that  the  minister  of  the  Gospel  is  sep- 
arated to  be  a  winner  of  crowns.  I  cannot  tell 
how  God  gives  power  to  the  poor  weak  body  and 
the  feeble  mind,  and  the  helpless  soul,  but  then 
I  think  that  it  is  all  by  his  grace,  by  his  love 
that  he  gives,  as  it  were,  an  impulse  to  the  soul 


176  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

which  enables  the  body  and  strengthens  even 
the  mind;  because  one  looks  forward  to  that 
blessed  day  when  the  people  to  whom  one  has 
ministered  wdll  be  one's  own  crown.  Do  you 
not  think  that  that  gives  support  in  the  hour  of 
weakness,  and  failure,  and  depression?  Oh,  try 
it,  try  it,  you  Christians  who  have  never  yet  won  a 
soul  to  hand  up  as  a  jeAvel  in  the  crown  the  Lord 
is  going  to  give  you ;  try  what  it  is  to  see  the 
bright  joy,  to  hear  the  redeemed  one  sing,  to 
realize  that  God  for  Christ's  sake  has  accepted 
him  as  a  saved  one. 

But  St.  Paul  also  says  to  the  Philippians  (ii.  1, 
2), "  If  there  is  any  comfort,  any  power  in  Christ, 
O  beloved  ,  '  fulfill  ye  my  joy,  that  ye  be  like- 
minded;'"  that  ye  carry  on  the  same  blessed 
privileges  which  I  have  had,  seeking  for  souls  and 
serving  the  Lord.  In  the  first  chapter  he  says 
that  he  can  think  of  them  j)erpetually  with  joy, 
remembering  them  always  in  his  i:>rayers ;  he 
understands  their  loving  and  faithful  and  holy 
life,  and  he  blesses  God  that  it  is  given  to  them 
as  to  him  to  suffer  for  Christ  as  well  as  to  believe 
on  him. 

The  epistle  begins  Avith  exhortations  to  holi- 
ness, and  St.  Paul  comes  back  to  that  again  in 
the  beginning  of  the  fourth  chapter,  and  says 
that  he  cannot  be  content  either  for  himself  or 
for  his  beloved  that  there  should  be  nothing  but 
the  gift  of  righteousness.     It  is  a  blessed  gift,  a 


STAND  FAST.  I77 

glorious  gift,  and  the  starting-point  of  every- 
thing that  is  perfect  in  man,  but  it  is  not  suffi- 
cient that  you  should  be  accepted  in  the  right- 
eousness of  Christ  Jesus;  God  Almighty  has 
been  iDleased  to  redeem  you,  that  you  may  win 
Christ  in  all  his  fullness. 

Listen  to  this  appeal  from  the  throne  and 
from  the  cross;  an  aijpeal  from  the  cross  that 
says  to  the  sinner,  take  the  gift  and  bless  God 
with  your  w^hole  being;  then  speaks  from  the 
throne  and  says  to  the  saint,  take  the  perfect 
work,  ye  that  have  been  redeemed  and  are  sanc- 
tified, and  set  ajDart  for  the  Master's  glory. 
You  will  never  be  satisfied  until  by  the  grace 
of  God  you  are  enabled  to  show  that  Jesus 
Christ  can  keej)  his  saints  standing  fast  in  the 
Lord. 

We  must  recognize  at  the  outset  that  every- 
thing depends  upon  being  ' '  in  the  Lord  ' ' — an 
old  and  familiar,  but  a  beautiful  truth  that 
every  saint  of  God  delights  to  dwell  upon.  It 
would  be  wearisome  if  I  were  to  pass  through 
even  this  one  Epistle  and  show  how  frequently 
St.  Paul  uses  that  one  little  preposition  "in." 
I  will  only  call  attention  to  how  repeatedly  the 
Apostle  brings  this  forward  in  chapter  four  as 
indicating  not  merely  the  sphere  in  which  we 
are  saved^  or  our  j)lace  of  blessing  in  the  heaven- 
lies,  bat  as  the  seed  from  which  holiness  springs. 
By  holiness  I  do  not  mean  merely  "set  ajmrt" 


178  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

for  God,  as  I  understand  the  word  in  Luke  i. 
75,  but  a  process  carried  on  by  God  the  Holy 
Ghost,  through  which  I  am  being  changed  from 
glory  to  glory,  into  the  image  of  Christ. 
Through  holiness  I  am  being  satisfied  moment 
by  moment,  comforted  in  trial,  enabled  in  my 
dealings  with  my  neighbor,  not  to  be  subject  to 
bitterness,  Avrath,  clamor,  or  evil  speaking,  how- 
ever provoking  the  circumstances  of  life  may  be. 
By  holiness,  in  fact,  I  understand  that  beautiful 
land  of  Canaan,  into  which  God  introduces  the 
true  believer,  and  where  he  gives  him  i^ossession, 
and  i30wer,  and  peace;  possession,  so  that  he 
has  all  things  (I.  Corinthians  iii.  22) ;  power,  so 
that  he  can  meet  every  difficulty  and  every  duty, 
be  more  than  conqueror  through  Christ  (Romans 
viii.  37) ;  and  peace,  not  only  with  God,  but 
having  the  peace  of  God  ruling  uninterruptedly 
in  his  heart  (Colossians  iii.  15). 

' '  In  Christ, ' '  then,  is  not  a  mere  position  of 
safety,  but  is  a  condition  from  which  springs  the 
power  for  carrying  out  God's  demand  for  holi- 
ness. Eight  times  in  this  fourth  chapter  (verses 
1,  2,  4,  7,  10,  13,  19  and  21)  does  the  Apostle 
bring  out  this  blessed  truth  that  in  Christ  Jesus 
the  Lord,  there  is  marvelous  power  for  all  who 
really  desire  to  stand  fast,  because  of  their  hav- 
ing received  the  Son's  provisions  for  holiness. 
(1)  ''Standfast  in  the  Lord:'  (2)  ''I  beseech 
Euodias,   and  beseech   Syntyche   that   they    be 


SrAXD  FAST.  171) 

of  ///r  same  mhid  in  lite  Lordy  (li)  "-  Rcjolre 
in  the  Lord  always;  and  again  I  say,  Rejoice.'' 
In  the  beginning  of  the  third  chapter  he  wrote: 
''  Finally,  my  brethren,  rejoice  in  the  Lord."  It 
seems  as  if  he  could  not  get  over  the  occasion  for 
rejoicing,  yet  this  man  was  writing  from  })risoii 
as  Paul  the  aged,  now  the  prisoner  of  the  Lord, 
expecting  martyrdom  at  any  moment ;  yet,  not 
less  than  sixteen  times  does  the  man  speak  in 
this  one  little  Epistle  about  joy.  Wherein  is 
St.  Paul  different  from  you  and  me  in  possibilities? 
Eleven  times  in  the  Epistle  he  brings  out  the 
words  TO  avTo  (ppoveiv^  "to  be  of  the  same 
mind,''  as  if  that  was  the  exultation  that  springs 
from  the  gift  of  joy.  He  says,  "My  beloved 
brethren,  you  must  have  this  mind,  and  if  you 
take  the  gift  and  gain  the  blessing  of  rejoicing 
in  the  Lord  always,  you  will  then  have  the  mind 
that  was  in  Christ  Jesus.  When  joy  seems  an 
impossibility  to  you,  it  is  because  you  have  not 
learned  that  mind.  Our  blessed  Mai^ter  never  to 
our  knowledge  spoke  of  joy  until  the  agony  of 
death  was  upon  liini.  Is  not  that  wonderful? 
True,  it  is  said  that  he  "rejoiced  in  spirit" 
(Luke  X.  21),  but  it  was  not  until  the  night  be- 
fore he  died  when  he  began  to  feel  the  agonies  of 
death  that  Jesus  began  to  speak  of  joy.  What 
a  lesson  to  us !  The  very  times  when  we 
are  overwhelmed  with  affliction  and  trial  and 
the   burdens   of   life,  are   the   times   when   tiie 


180  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

Gospel  of  Christ  was  meant  to  bring  us  joy 
unspeakable  and  full  of  glory. 

Again  (verse  7)  Paul  says  (4)  ' '  The  peace  of 
God  .  .  .  sliallJieejy  your  Ilea rts  and  minds 
in  Christ  Jesus ;^^  and  (5)  '^  I  rejoiced  in  the 
Lord  greatly  that  now  at  the  last  your  care  of 
me  hath  flourished  again  "  (verse  10).  Fancy  a 
man  rejoicing  in  the  Lord  because  he  has  just 
received  a  bit  of  money  from  the  Philippian 
church.  People  sometimes  think  that  they  can- 
not give  any  pleasure  to  the  great  men  of  God. 
A  little  gift  goes  a  long  way,  if  the  heart  goes 
wdtli  the  gift.  (6)  "  /  can  do  cdl  things  in 
Christ  loho  strengthenetli  me^'  (verse  13).  Can 
you  take  up  those  words  and  sny,  "I  am  all- 
X)revailing  in  Him  that  strengthenetli  me."  (7) 
' '  My  God  shall  surpply  all  your  need  according 
to  his  riches  in  glory  in  Christ  Jesus''''  (verse 
19).  St.  Paul  cannot  get  over  the  fact  that  he 
has  such  a  Lord  to  i^rovide  for  him.  Then  he 
seems  to  say  (8)  "Now  let  everyone  take  the 
blessing — 'Salute  every  saint  in  Christ  Jesus' ^^ 
(verse  21). 

This  is  not  a  mere  tricky  repetition  of  a  num- 
ber of  verses.  They  show  that  a  man  in  much 
darker  circumstances  than  you  are  could  still 
look  into  the  face  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  recog- 
nize that  Christ  Jesus  was  looking  into  his  face, 
and  could  say,  "I  have  all  and  abound ;  every- 
thing is  mine,  and  everything  is  yours  in  Christ 


STAXD  FAST.  \^\ 

Jesus.''  Never  forget  that  while  you  Imve 
righteousness  in  Christ  Jesus  you  have  also  a 
glorious  tower.  ''The  name  of  the  Lord  is  a 
strong  tower;  the  righteous  runnetli  into  it  and 
is  safe."  Why  does  the  Psahnist  so  IVequently 
speak  of  the  Loid  as  a  rock,  a  fortress?  It  is 
because  he  says,  '^  There  my  strength  is  sui)plied 
in  abundance."  Everything  that  is  recjuired 
by  the  soul  is  found  in  Christ  Jesus.  When 
we  are  in  Christ  Jesus,  there  conies  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  which  works  through  us  to  ener- 
gize us  for  the  glory  of  God. 

Now  it  is  that  the  Apostle  can  say,  "  So  stand 
fast  in  the  Lord."  I  think  that  that  word  "  so " 
refers,  first,  to  the  provisions  of  God  in  Christ 
as  our  source  of  strength,  and,  secondly,  refers 
to  St.  Paul  as  an  example  of  steadfastness. 
Perhaps  Christ  would  seem  too  high  a  standard, 
but  surely  all  can  be  something  like  Paul,  the 
aged,  the  prisoner  at  Rome  (cf.  i.  30,  iii.  17, 
and  iv.  9).  He  names  Christ  as  the  fountain, 
Paul  as  a  pattern,  the  Holy  Ghost  as  the  power, 
and  man  as  the  medium. 

Now,  take  your  privilege,  and  no  longer  dare 
to  vilify  Christ  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  by  say- 
ing, "I  cannot."  .No  one  ever  said  f/ofi  could. 
Take  your  prepared  place,  and  say  once  for  all, 
"I  cannot;  but  Christ  can."  As  one  young 
man  said, "  Formerly,  my  highest  wish  was  to  be 
a  manly  Christian ;  now,  I  have  come  to  desire  to 


182  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

be  a  Christly  man,  a  man  taken  possession  of  by 
Christ.'^  It  is  true  that  you  take  possession  of 
Christ  here  for  acceptance  and  salvation,  but  to 
win  a  crown,  Christ  must  take  possession  of  you. 

Two  little  boys  are  walking  along  the  road 
with  their  father.  One  grasps  hold  of  his 
father's  fingers,  and  finds  that  it  is  about  all 
that  he  can  manage.  The  other  puts  his  hand 
right  into  his  father's  large  strong  hand,  and  the 
father  holds  it.  Suddenly  they  come  to  a  ditch 
in  the  road.  Both  slip  :  the  one  who  is  holding 
his  father's  hand  loses  his  grip  and  goes  down; 
the  other  is  held  up  firmly  by  the  father's  strong 
grasp.  You  do  the  trusting,  and  let  God  do  the 
keeping,  and  you  will  go  safe  through  life  and 
enter  into  glory.  "  Kept  by  the  power  of  God 
through  faith  unto  salvation  "  (Peter  i.  5).  Let 
that  be  your  law  of  life  in  everything. 

Brethren,  we  have  our  j^ossession  in  the  Lord, 
and  we  have  our  power  and  pattern  in  the  Word. 
The  life  that  we  are  to  live  as  Christians  is  ex- 
pressed in  these  words  ' '  Stand  fast ' '  {rrjKere^ 
stand).  Let  me  call  your  attention  to  seven  pas- 
sages from  God's  Holy  Word  which  show  what 
will  be  our  life  if  we  stand  fast  in  the  Lord.  The 
first  is  I.  Corinthians  xvi.  13,''  Watch  ye,  stand 
fast  in  thefaitli. ' '  Let  no  man  shake  your  faith 
in  the  great  doctrines  of  the  Gospel.  Be  per- 
fectly clear  as  to  the  scheme  of  salvation,  that 
doctrine  of  the  blood,  that  doctrine  of  the  atone- 


STAND  FAST.  I33 

ment,  that  doctrineof  l)iiii;il  hy  luiptisin,  tli<*  doc- 
trine of  the  resurrection  in  Chiist,  tlie  doctrine  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  coniin<;-  to  take  possession  and 
make  yon  most  powerful,  the  doctrine  of  salva- 
tion, satisfaction,  and  sanctification.  Critics, 
however,  will  never  get  so  high  as  the  top  of 
Christ's  spire,  the  top-stone  of  which  is  (ikace.  It 
is  the  spire  that  touch(\s  God's  throne  from 
Avhich  the  grace  of  God  Hows  to  the  very  bottom 
of  the  building. 

Again  (Galatians  v.  1),  ''  Stand  fast  in  the 
liberty  w^lierewith  Christ  hasnuide  us  free,  and  be 
not  entangled  again  with  the  yoke  of  ])ondage.'"' 
Do  not  be  entangled  again  with  bonds,  either  of 
the  critics  or  of  the  poor  superstitious  ceremo- 
nialists.  Stand  fast  in  Christ's  liberty.  Ye  are 
the  sons  of  God,  taught  by  the  Spirit  to  cry, 
^'Abba,  Father.''  If  I  have  liberty  to  go  into 
my  Father's  own  sanctum,  and  to  si)eak  to  him 
of  my  affairs,  and  get  money,  counsel,  strength, 
and  wisdom,  need  I  go  into  the  bondage  of  super- 
stition and  bow  down  to  a  human  priest  with  my 
confessions?  But  liberty  means  not  only  liberty 
from  sui)erstition  and  ceremonialism,  but  liberty 
from  the  corruption  of  the  tlesh,  for  Ave  are  to 
walk  in  the  spirit  and  not  to  fulfill  the  lusts  of 
the  flesh. 

Then,  thirdly  (Ephesians  vi.  11-14),  '^^it  on 
the  wdiole  armor  of  God  that  ye  may  be  able  to 
stand  against  the  wiles  of   the  devil.     For  we 


184  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

wrestle  not  against  flesli  and  blood,  but  against 
princii)alities,  against  powers,  against  the  rulers 
of  tlie  darkness  of  this  world,  against  spiritual 
wickedness  in  high  places.  Wherefore  take  unto 
you  the  whole  armor  of  God,  that  ye  may  be  able 
to  withstand  in  the  evil  day,  and  having  done  all, 
to  stand." — '-'•  Btand  fast  titer ef or e^^  in  alt  the 
armor  of  God.  We  are  in  the  heavenlies  to  fight 
the  devils  and  all  the  principalities  and  powers, 
who  are  trying  to  draw  us  out  from  our  fortress 
where  God  has  x)laced  us.  Tliere  can  be  no  jDeace 
between  us  and  the  devil ;  Ave  must  fight  him  to 
the  very  end,  because  he  is  always  assailing 
our  souls  and  trying  to  draw  us  out  of  our  high 
place  in  Christ  Jesus.  From  the  pit  of  darkness 
to  the  throne  of  God,  Clirist  Jesus  raises  us, 
and  putting  us  above  all  principalities  and  x)Ow- 
ers,  says,  ''Having  done  all,  stand."  But  mind 
that  you  take  the  toliole  armor  of  God;  omit 
not  one  piece.  The  devil  is  crafty ;  let  him  see 
one  spot  without  its  covering,  and  he  will  hurl  a 
fiery  dart  that  will  make  you  groan  with  ]3ain, 
and  would  wound  you  unto  death  perhaps,  were 
it  not  for  the  oil  and  wine  which  the  Good  Samar- 
itan deigns  to  i^our  in. 

Once  again  Paul  says  to  the  Phili]3pians  (i.  27) 
that  he  desires  to  hear  that  they  "  standfast  in 
one  spirits  Brethren,  we  should  be  in  one 
spirit  only,  not  magnifying  "isms"  and  cults. 
We  are  in  Christ,  and  blessed  be  God,  the  day 


STAND  FAST.  185 

is  comiiit!;  ^\]wn  the  lilllr  distinciioiis  will  be 
dropped. 

There  is  a  familiar  story  about  Joliii  AVesley 
and  others  going  to  the  river  that  ])ounds  the 
Holy  City,  and  iinding  to  thrii-  astoui^hinent 
that  they  had  to  drop  their  cloaks  and  garments 
in  which  they  approached.  One  drops  his  cloak, 
another  his  robe,  another  his  surplice,  and  they 
come  out  on  the  other  side  astonished  to  find 
that  they  are  all  in  the  same  white  beautiful 
robe,  the  robe  of  righteousness,  which  is  Christ 
Jesus  our  Lord.  Cannot  we  gain  a  little  more 
of  heaven  upon  earth  by  stretching  out  moi'e  of 
the  right  hand  of  fellowshii)?  ''Stand  fast  in 
one  spirit,  with  one  mind." 

The  next  step  is  a  very  serious  one.  We  are 
told  that  Epaphras  w^as  continually  praying  for 
the  Colossians  that  they  should  ''  s/cmd/asf, 
perfect  and  complete  in  all  the  will  of  God'' 
(Colossians  iv.  12V  We  bow  down  and  say, 
''Thy  will  be  done;"  and  men  put  up  the 
whites  of  their  eyes  and  roll  their  heads  al)out 
as  if  with  agony  at  the  thought  that  the  will  of 
God  is  to  be  done.  One  would  think  the  will  of 
God  was  the  most  terrible  intliction  that  the 
Almighty  could  lay  upon  his  creatures.  But 
the  will  of  God  is  the  joy  of  Christ  Jesus.  It  is 
the  one  joy  of  a  sanctified  soul  that  it  is  per- 
mitted and  enabled  to  do  the  will  of  God;  so 
that  when  a  person  })rays  for  me  that    1  may 


186  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

' '  stand  fast,  perfect  and  complete  in  all  the  will 
of  God,"  it  is  the  most  blessed  x)rayer  that  can 
be  offered  for  me. 

Now  II.  Thessalonians  ii.  15 :  "Standfast 
tlierefore  in  the  traditions  which  we  have 
learned,  whether  by  word  or  by  our  Epistle." 
Traditions?  Certainly  not  what  are  called  the 
traditions  of  Rome,  but  the  teachings  of  the 
apostles,  the  Word  of  God.  Stand  fast  in  the 
Word  of  God.  When  men  tempt  you  to  turn 
aside  into  the  x)leasant  pastures  of  what  they 
call  criticism ;  when  they  evoke  scientific  dis- 
play and  seek  to  reconcile  science  and  theol- 
ogy by  dabbling  with  both  and  retaining  them 
both,  turn  to  the  Word  of  God  and  say,  ' '  The 
Word  of  God  is  revealed  to  me  in  order  that  I 
may  stand  fast  in  it,  and  that  is  sufficient  for 
me." 

Once  more  I.  Peter  v.  12:  "Testifying  that 
this  is  tlie  true  grace  of  God  lolierein  ye  stand.^^ 
This  is  the  true  grace  of  God ;  stand  ye  fast 
therein.  As  at  the  beginning,  so  at  the  close  of 
our  beautiful  chain  with  seven  links,  we  are 
brought  back  to  that  word  grace.  IS'ever  be 
moved  from  the  grace  of  God ;  let  that  grace  pre- 
vail. St.  Paul  says  to  the  Corinthian  church 
(II.  Cor.  vi.  1).  "We  beseech  you,  therefore, 
that  ye  receive  not  the  grace  of  God  in  vain ' ' 
(cf.  viii.  9,  ix.  9,  xii.  9).  Beloved,  receive  not  the 
grace  of  God  in  vain.     Your  privilege  is  to  stand 


STAND  FAST.  187 

fast  in  the  Lord,  and  that  position  brings  power 
not  in  ourselves,  but  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  so  that 
whether  we  eat  or  drink,  or  wliatsoever  we  do, 
we  may  do  it  heartily  (out  of  our  souls)  unto  the 
Lord. 

It  is  a  beautiful  life — standing  fast  in  the  faith, 
standing  fast  in  the  liberty,  standing  fast  in  the 
heavenlies,  girt  in  the  armor  of  God,  standing 
fast  in  one  spirit,  standing  fast  in  the  will  of 
God,  standing  fast  in  the  traditions  of  the  AVord 
of  God's  revelation,  and  standing  fast  in  the 
grace  of  God.  Surely  we  cannot  ask  more,  for 
these  seven  things  comprise  every  possible  want 
that  can  rise  in  our  hearts  and  they  are  all  sup- 
plied in  Christ  Jesus. 

Twenty-one  years  ago  I  was  permitted  to  con- 
duct a  ten-day  Mission  in  a  small  town  in  England. 
It  was  the  first  which  I  had  ever  conducted,  and 
the  Lord  was  pleased  to  give  abundant  blessing. 
A  little  governess,  a  small,  delicate,  retiring 
young  woman,  came  to  know  God  and  to  rest  in 
Christ,  and  when  I  came  to  London  two  years 
later  she  had  just  taken  the  position  of  governess 
in  a  large  house  which  had  a  vesy  large  drinking 
saloon  attached  to  it,  so  large  that  the  proprietor 
paid  eleven  thousand  pounds  for  the  good-will 
beside  six  hundred  pounds  a  year  for  the  rent, 
simply  to  sux)ply  drink  in  the  saloon,  while  his 
family  occupied  the  upper  lloor.  As  soon  as  she 
heard  that  I  was  in  the  city  she  said  to  the  peox^le 


188  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

of  the  house,  '  *  You  must  go  and  hear  that  man ; 
he  is  a  great  friend  of  mine. ' '  She  brought  them 
to  my  church.  The  man  was  an  infidel,  but 
claimed  to  be  an  atheist."^  He  came  to  the 
church  once,  and  that  was  enough  for  him ;  but 
his  Avife  came,  his  daughters  came,  and  to-day, 
after  sixteen  years,  that  woman  and  her  children 
are  some  of  my  most  devoted  adherents. 

The  man  turned  away,  but,  after  about  a  year, 
he  was  taken  with  a  fearful  attack  of  cancer  in 
the  bowels,  and  they  said  that  he  would  cer- 
tainly die.  The  governess  persuaded  the  wife  to 
send  for  me.  I  went  to  see  the  man,  but  had 
very  little  effect  upon  him  the  first  day.  I  went 
the  second  day  and  the  third,  as  I  saw  by  the 
ojDen  blinds  that  he  was  not  yet  dead.  At  last, 
when  I  could  not  persuade  him  of  the  goodness 
of  God  by  any  doctrine,  I  told  him  this  story. 
I  said,  ' '  My  friend,  God  wants  you  to  take 
Jesus  Christ  as  your  Saviour  to-day,  and  simply 
to  say  'Thank  you'  for  it."  He  said,  "lean- 
not  see  that,  and  I  don't  see  anything  in  the 
Gospel."  He  tried  to  listen,  though  he  called 
himself  an  atheist.  I  said :  "It  reminds  me  of 
a  story  which  I  heard  in  Scotland.  A  gentle- 
man was  driving  to  see  a  large  and  beautiful 


*  Remember  the  difference  between  these  :  the  skeptic  is  a  man  who  is  look- 
ing around  ;  the  infidel  has  no  faith  in  Christj  the  atheist  is  one  without 
God.  The  skeptics  are  usually  earnest  people ;  infidels  are  fools  perhaps,  poor 
things;  but  atheists  are  rank  fools,  because  they  say  that  there  is  no  God, 
when  they  know  that  there  is. 


STAND  FAST.  18!) 

palace,  and  when  tliey  stopped  at  the  gates,  lie 
looked  out  of  the  carriage,  and  said  to  the  driver, 
'  Drive  on.'  The  driver  answered,  '  This  is  what 
we  have  come  to  see. '  '  Go  in  then. '  '  We  can- 
not until  the  gate  is  opened.'  '  Get  it  opened.' 
'  I  cannot ;  it  has  to  be  opened  from  the  inside.' 
*Tell  them  to  open  it.'  The  driver  replied, 
'  That  is  not  it ;  the  porter  must  come  out  and 
speak  to  you.'  'Fetch  her  out  then.'  A 
woman  came  out  and  the  gentleman  said,  '  I 
wish  to  go  in  and  see  the  palace.'  'Yes,  sir, 
you  are  perfectly  Avelcome ;  if  you  will  only  say 
''Thank  you,"  I  will  unlock  the  gate.'  'Is 
that  all?  Thank  you.'  'All  right,'  and  she 
touched  the  latch,  and  the  great  gates  swung 
open." 

The  man  stopped  me,  put  out  his  hand  in 
anguish  of  pain,  and  touched  my  hand,  and 
said,  '^Stop,  sir,  stop,  stop,  I  see  it.  'Thank 
you,  Lord;  thank  you.  Lord;  thank  you.  Lord; 
thank  you.'"  I  never  saw  such  a  look  upon 
any  human  face,  never,  as  there  was  upon  that 
man's  face  when  he  entered  the  gate,  having 
received  the  entrance  for  nothing  but  ^' Thank 

you." 

You  may  say,  "That  is  all  very  well;  emo- 
tional excitement  in  the  face  of  death."  But 
what  happened?  The  next  day  I  came  again, 
and  I  said,  "  I  see  he  is  not  dead  yet."  "  Xo." 
"How   is  he?"     "\Vell,    he   has    never   slept 


190  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

since  you  were  here,  but  he  has  spent  the  whole 
night  saying,  'Thank  you,  Lord,'  ever  since 
you  left  him."  ''Oh,"  I  said,  "I  know  what 
it  means;  he  has  just  got  inside  the  gates  of 
the  park,  and  he  is  looking  at  the  palace,  and 
lie  will  be  in  the  palace  directly."  That  man 
lived  six  months;  the  cancer  turned,  but  he 
never  once  left  that  room.  Was  the  conversion 
real,  was  the  thanksgiving  true?  The  chief  part 
of  his  trade  was  on  Sunday.  Without  one  word 
from  me,  a  great  notice  was  put  up  on  the  door 
the  next  Sunday, 


THIS    HOUSE   IS    CLOSED    OIS"    SUNDAYS 
FROM    THIS    DAY    FORTH, 


signed  by  his  name.  That  was  the  first  fruit, 
and  rather  practical  evidence.  What,  to  lose 
his  income?  Yes,  and  trust  his  Lord.  But  be- 
sides this  by  the  goodness  of  God,  I  saw  during 
those  six  months  no  less  than  six  open  denomin- 
ated atheists  give  their  hearts  to  God  in  that 
room,  one  after  the  other,  brought  there  by  that 
man.  See  the  remarkable  change,  all  through 
this  little  governess.  One  of  these  atheists 
turned  out  to  be  a  man,  whom,  in  my  youth,  I 
had  heard  blaspheming  God  before  a  great 
crowd  and  saying,  ' '  How  can  there  be  any  truth 


STAXD  FAST.  101 

ill  tlie  Bible  wlieii  tlie  pn^cs  conti'adict  tluMii- 
selves,  one  after  1h<'  other.  In  one  i)a*^<i  it  says, 
'  No  man  sliall  see  my  face  and  live,'  and  in  an- 
other it  says,  '  Moses  talked  face  to  face  with 
God.'  That  is  a  lying  l)ook."*  I  rnshed  into  the 
crowd,  and  battening  up  my  coat,  as  if  I  was  not 
a  clergyman,  I  tried  to  speak  to  him.  A  gentle- 
man came  \i])  to  me  and  said,  ''Young  man,  you 
are  too  young  for  this  work;  I  have  followed 
this  fellow  for  eight  years,  and  you  would  better 
leave  him  alone."  Seventeen  years  later  this 
great  strong  man  is  on  his  knees  waiting  before 
God  in  the  room  of  this  dying  publican.  Breth- 
ren, enter  God's  inheritance  with  this  one  simple 
utterance,  "  Thank  you.  Lord ;  thank  you." 

Twenty-one  years  ago,  I  was  called  to  London 
to  speak  for  the  first  time  at  the  Mildmay  Con- 
ference, and  I  was  staying  witli  a  superintendent 
of  Mildmay.  On  the  last  day  of  the  Conference 
he  said  to  me,  ''  I  wish  you  would  go  into  our 
little  hospital,  and  see  a  dying  woman."  I  said, 
"  Could  I  help  her?  I  would  be  glad  if  I  could, 
but  I  am  very  busy."  "Help  her?"  he  said, 
"  No,  I  meant  her  to  helji  you. "  I  said,  "  I  wish 
ver^Muuch  that  I  could  go  in."  lie  said,  "Never 
mind,  I  will  tell  you.  I  have  just  been  to  see 
her.  She  has  had  a  stroke  this  morning,  and 
she  must  die  to-night.     She  is  a  girl  of  eighteen, 


*  I  need  hardly  say  that  a  man  may  be  face  to  face  with  one,  and  be  blinded 


192  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

and  when  I  sat  down  by  lier,  I  was  not  sure 
whether  they  had  told  her  that  she  was  dying, 
so  I  felt  a  certain  shyness  in  having  to  tell  her. 
After  a  moment,  she  said,  '  Have  they  told  you 
about  me?  '  '  Oh,  yes,  my  child.  Does  it  trouble 
you  much  ? '  There  was  such  a  look  upon  her 
face  that  it  awed  me.  She  said,  'Trouble  me? 
trouble  me?  No,  I  am  so  glad,  I  am  so  glad!  ' 
The  look  was  so  wonderful  that  I  felt  awed 
again,  and  did  not  know  how  to  speak,  but  I 
said,  '  I  see  that  they  have  taken  all  the  beds  out 
of  your  room,  and  have  left  you  alone ;  does  not 
that  trouble  you  ?  Do  you  not  mind  being  alone  ?' 
^Mind  it?  mind  it?  No,  I  am  so  glad,  because 
now ' — never  forget  the  words — '  because  now  I 
have  Him  all  to  myself,  and  he  is  so  real  to  me ; 
is  he  not  to  you? '  "  Captain  Martin  said,  ''  No, 
my  child,  he  is  not  as  real  to  me  as  he  is  to  you ; 
1  wish  to  God  that  I  felt  what  I  can  see  in  your 
face." 

Brethren,  He  is  the  Christ  from  whom  to  learn 
what  love  is ;  he  is  a  Christ  by  whom  to  live  this 
life;  he  is  a  Christ  with  whom  to  go  through 
death ;  he  is  a  real  Keeper,  a  Saviour,  a  Friend 
at  the  last,  and  he  is  a  Christ  to  go  and  live  with 
forever  in  the  glory  of  God.  Will  you  take  my 
Christ,  and  my  God  shall  supply  all  your  need, 
according  to  his  riches  in  glory  in  Christ  Jesus  ? 


THE  DAILY  PORTION. 


"Unto  every  one  that  entereth  into  the  house  of  the  Lord,  liis 
daily  portion  for  their  service  in  their  cliarges  according  to  their 
courses  ...  for  in  their  set  office  they  sanetitied  themselves  in 
holiness." — //.  Chron.  xxxi.  16,  IS. 

If  the  heart  is  truly  filled  with  love,  there  is 
but  oue  thing  apparently  that  can  keep  it  in 
utter  distress  and  that  is  the  refusal  of  the  loved 
one  to  ai^prehend  the  intensity  of  the  lover's  de- 
votion, and  his  i:>urpose  to  do  good  to  the  object 
of  his  affections.  I  know  not  vrhat  more  can  be 
told  than  you  have  already  heard  to  express  the 
infinite  love  of  God,  and  to  make  you  feel  that 
the  heart  of  the  Eternal  is  most  wondrously  kind. 
The  purposes  of  God  towards  his  creatures  are 
simply  wrapped  up  in  that  one  little  word  love 
and  he  can  never  be  satisfied  in  the  one  yearn- 
ing desire  of  his  heart,  to  pour  out  upon  iiinn  his 
infinite  treasures,  if  they  will  but  take  according 
to  their  need. 

What  would  satisfy  you  in  your  religion,  if 
you  wrote  out  a  catalogue  of  everythiug  wliich 
you  felt  you  could  desire  or  above  all  that  you 
could  ask  or  think?     AVould  vou  not  write  down 


194  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

at  the  very  beginning,  '^  Peace  with  God,  so 
that  I  should  not  be  afraid  of  him  ? ' '  You 
know  in  your  hearts  that  that  is  supj)lied  by 
the  sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ  on  the  cross.  You 
have  but  to  say,  ' '  Amen,  thank  God,  it  is  true ; 
I  believe  it. ' '  Then  would  you  not  w^rite  down, 
*'  Constant  keeping  from  all  evil,  and  the  supply 
of  every  need  ?' '  The  Bible  is  full  of  that  blessed 
truth  at  every  point;  the  keeiDing  Christ,  the 
providing  Lord,  the  comforting  Friend,  the  ever- 
lasting Portion  of  Gods  people.  Whatever  you 
wish,  there  stands  the  living  God,  and  says  I 
AM.  God  must  give ;  he  cannot  withhold ;  he 
w^ould  not  be  God  any  more  than  a  fountain 
would  be  a  fountain  if  he  were  not  perpetually 
pouring  out  his  fullness  upon  all  the  universe. 
Suppose  that  you  say,  ' '  I  want  a  future  that  is 
clear  and  full  of  provision  for  eternity."  The 
Lord  is  our  everlasting  Portion ;  the  great  God 
is  ever  saying  I  AM,  and  what  more  can  men  re- 
quire for  the  future  ?  The  past,  and  the  i)resent, 
and  the  future  are  all  set  before  us  in  the  living 
God  as  being  completely  and  everlastingly  pro- 
vided for.  And  yet  how  many  souls  are  satisfied 
in  Christ,  how  many  could  say  that  they  have 
found  in  him  everything  that  their  souls  desire? 
Not  many,  I  fear. 

ISTow,  beloved,  I  wish  to  convince  you  of  God's 
everlasting  supx)ly  for  what  ever  you  can  need  now 
and  in  eternity.     It  is   exceedingly  difficult  to 


THE  DA  IL  y  PORTION.  \  tlD 

express  to  the  sons  of  iikmi  thr  mnrve-lous  inten- 
tions, and  the  niarvelons  provisions  of  God,  and 
the  marvelous  possibilities  tliat  lie  l)efore  tliem, 
if  they  could  only  apprehend  wliat  God  is  to 
the  creature,  and  what  the  creature  is  meant  to  be 
to  God. 

Once  more  I  turn  to  God's  picture-) )()()k,  the 
Old  Testament,  so  graciously  provided  for  us, 
that  we  may  understand  a  little  by  God's  deal- 
ings with  his  people  Israel  what  he  would  do 
for  si^iritual  Israel  if  we  would  fully  trust  him. 
Look  at  two  or  three  verses  in  the  Old  Testament 
which  speak  of  what  God  desires  to  be  to  his 
people,  and  to  have  his  peojile  to  be  to  him. 

First  in  Deuteronomy  xxxii.  0,  we  read,  "  The 
Lord's  portion  is  his  people ;  Jacob  is  the  lot  of 
his  inheritance."  JS^otice  that  carefull}^  for  it 
implies  that  the  Almighty  wishes  to  find  in  his 
chosen  people  his  own  portion  and  satisfaction, 
his  inheritance  for  his  personal  enjoyment.  But 
that  is  not  enough.  Look  at  Deuteronomy  x.  8,  9, 
and  see  what  God  intends  to  be  to  his  people : 
^'The  Lord  separated  the  tribe  of  Levi  to  bear 
the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord,  to  stand 
before  the  Lord  to  minister  uuto  him,  and  to 
bless  in  his  name,  unto  this  day.  Wherefore 
Levi  hatli  no  part  nor  inheritance  with  his  breth- 
ren; the  Lord  is  his  inheritance,  according  as 
the  Lord  thy  God  promised  him." 

When  God  separated  the   children  of  Israel 


196  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

from  other  nations,  if  the  whole  people  would 
have  drawn  nigh  to  Mount  Sinai  and  had  heard  the 
revelation  of  God's  will,  then  God  had  one  great 
purpose  for  them  all,  viz. ,  that  they  should  be 
to  him  ''a  kingdom  of  priests"  (Ex.  xix.  6). 
The  people  drew  back,  notwithstanding  that  they 
had  been  delivered  out  of  Egyptian  bondage,  and 
brought  nigh  to  God  at  Mount  Sinai.  God  said, 
^ '  I  must  now  reveal  myself  to  you  in  holiness, 
but  in  order  to  see  the  revelation  of  my  holiness, 
you  must  put  away  everything  connected  with 
the  flesh  and  idolatry. ' '  The  people  said,  ' '  The 
demand  is  too  great,"  and  they  rejected  the  call 
of  God  to  draw  nigh  to  the  mountain,  and  so 
could  not  be  made  a  kingdom  of  priests  unto 
God.  Every  soul  in  that  nation  was  intended  to 
take  part  in  the  priesthood,  and  to  enjoy  all  its 
privileges  :  to  draw  nigh  to  God  in  his  holy  place, 
to  speak  to  God  concerning  the  people,  to  receive 
from  God  his  grand  revelations,  to  dwell  in  the 
presence  of  God,  with  the  soul's  desires  provided 
for  by  God  at  every  point,  to  be  freed  from  all 
hard  service  and  burden-bearing,  never  to  know 
one  shadow  of  care,  one  thought  of  a  burden,  or 
distress,  but  to  rest  in  the  Lord,  to  wait  x)atiently 
for  him,  and  to  be  assured  that  he  would  be  not 
only  their  God,  but  their  portion,  their  inherit- 
ance, their  supply  forever. 

Look  again  at  Numbers  xviii.  2  and  see  more 
of  w^hat   God  is  to  his  people.     We  considered 


THE  DAILY  PORTION.  197 

iii'st  the  people,  then  the  Levites,  now  Aiiron. 
"  Thou  shalt  have  no  inlieritance  in  their  hind, 
neither  shalt  thou  have  any  part  among  them. 
I  am  thy  part  and  thine  inheritanee  among  the 
ehildren  of  Israel."  The  Lord's  ])(M)ple  is  his 
portion ;  the  people's  portion  was  to  l)e  the  Ijord, 
but  they  refused  it,  so  that  God  was  compelled 
to  take  out  of  the  people  a  little  i)ortion,  one 
tribe.  Why  was  the  tribe  of  Levi  chosen? 
Because  when  an  hour  of  testing  came,  and  the 
people  w^ere  to  be  questioned  as  to  their  idolatry, 
into  which  they  had  fallen,  when  Moses  was  in 
the  Mount,  the  one  tribe  of  Levi  stood  out  and 
consecrated  themselves  to  the  Lord,  girded  their 
swords  upon  their  sides,  and  stepped  forward  to 
avenge  the  cause  of  God  against  their  own 
parents,  their  own  brethren  and  all  the  tribes  of 
Israel,  that  they  might  deliver  Israel  from  the 
curse  of  God  brought  upon  them  through  idola- 
try. From  that  moment  the  Lord  ai')pointed  the 
tribe  of  Levi  to  be  his  chosen  tribe,  his  priest- 
hood with  constant,  full  fellowship  with  him. 
But  alas,  even  the  tribe  of  Levi  neglected  their 
privileges,  and  God  had  to  take  one  family. 
Again  and  again  God  endeavored,  first  through 
the  nation,  then  through  the  family  of  Levi  to 
induce  the  people  to  draw  nigh  to  him  and  take 
the  privileges  and  powers  of  the  i)riestliood.  But 
no;  1500  years  go  by,  and  the  nations  are  no 
better  for  God  having  delivered  one  nation ;  they 


198  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

are  still  in  darkness  and  degradation,  tliough 
Israel  had  been  delivered  to  be  a  light  to  lighten 
the  Gentiles.  Tims,  when  Jesus  was  born,  there 
was  no  one  people,  no  one  tribe,  apparently  no 
one  family  that  would  glorify  God  by  whole- 
hearted consecration,  and  so  God  must  now  choose 
one  man.  The  man  Christ  Jesus  is  born  into  the 
world  to  be  what  Israel  and  Levi  and  Aaron 
refused  to  be ;  Christ  becomes  the  man  to  glorify 
God  his  Father  in  all  things  before  God  and 
before  the  world.  Then  from  the  man  Christ 
Jesus,  there  began  from  the  day  of  jjentecost  to 
spread  the  riches  of  God's  love  to  other  men, 
who  were  taken  x)ossession  of  and  drawn  unto 
the  man ;  one  after  another  are  drawn  out  of  the 
darkness  and  degradation  of  sin  into  the  comfort 
and  the  joy  of  resting  in  Christ.  The  moment 
that  the  church  was  constituted  as  a  body  of 
X3eople  who  could  be  said  to  rest  in  Christ,  God 
said  to  that  church  that  he  had  taken  them  again 
to  be  a  kingdom  of  priests  "  (Rev.  i.  6;  I.  Pet. 
ii.  9). 

What  are  the  privileges  of  the  priesthood  now 
accorded  to  the  church  of  Jesus  Christ?  If  we 
Christians  had  our  privileges,  there  is  absolutely 
nothing  for  which  w^e  could  ask  God  that  we 
have  not  been  already  supplied  with  in  Christ 
Jesus.  Men  may  ask  what  then  is  the  need  'of 
Ijrayer?  In  one  sense  there  is  no  need  of  prayer 
from  the  Christian;  in  another  sense,  there  is 


THE  DAILY  l'()/rn(K\.  ].,() 

constant  need  of  prayer.  No  need  of  i)niy«M', 
because  all  tliino;s  aiv  yours  if  ye  are  Christ's, 
and  Christ  is  (rod's  own  Son,  di*a wilier  unceas- 
ingly from  the  riches  of  the  Father  and  pouring 
them  out  upon  us.  l^nt  in  another  sense  there 
is  need  of  prayer  at  every  moment  of  our 
existence,  because  our  eyes  are  not  oj^ened  to  see 
what  God  has  given  to  us  of  piivilfges  and  of 
possibilities.  Moment  by  moment  we  should  bn 
living  a  life  of  prayei*.  We  can  only  get  the 
benefit  of  these  riches  as  moment  by  moment  we 
open  our  mouths  wide,  for  the  Lord  to  fill  them. 
Look  up  and  say,  ''  Lord,  open  mine  eyes  that  I 
may  see  the  w^ondrous  things  out  of  thy  law,  and 
that  I  may  have  grace  to  take."  I  need  not  ask 
my  God  to  provide  anything  further  for  me  than 
lie  has  provided  in  Christ,  but  I  do  need  to  ask 
God  to  teach  me  how  to  take,  because  I  am  so 
ignorant,  and  so  helpless  and  so  vile.  I  try  to 
draw  out  a  few  benefits  for  myself  upon  earth, 
wdien  all  the  riches  of  heaven  are  mine.  '*  Who- 
soever will,  let  him  take."  How  much  ?  Ac- 
cording to  his  need  and  his  desire.  (lod  cannot 
give  more ;  it  is  for  us  to  take  more. 

But  how  can  we  learn  the  secret  of  a  perpetual 
supply  for  perpetual  need,  v/liich  shall  take  us 
beyond  the  momentary  requirements,  and  fill 
our  souls  with  hoh^  calm?  The  picture  is  given 
us  in  the  priesthood  of  what  (rod  intended  to  be 
carried  out  first  by  the  whole  of  Israel,  then,  as 


200  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

they  rejected  it,  by  the  tribe  of  Levi,  then,  as 
they  understood  it  not,  by  the  family  of  Aaron, 
and  then,  as  they  missed  it,  God  now  and  then 
gives  us  glimpses  of  what  might  be,  if  we  were 
but  faithful.  In  these  verses  from  II.  Chronicles 
we  have  one  little  glimpse  of  what  we  may  enjoy 
from  this  day  forth  and  forever. 

King  Hezekiah  was  raised  up  as  a  reformer. 
He  gave  his  heart  to  God  in  his  youth,  and  the 
moment  he  obtained  possession  of  the  kingdom, 
he  set  his  heart  upon  God.  He  is,  in  this  sense, 
a  picture  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  great 
Anointed  of  God,  who  is  put  before  the  world  to 
show  what  God  can  do  for  his  people.  The 
moment  Hezekiah  came  to  the  throne  he  desired 
to  deliver  Israel  from  their  dark  degradation; 
and  he  proceeded  to  call  around  him  those  who 
could  fill  the  house  of  God  not  only  with  beauty, 
but  men  who  would  worship  God  according  to 
his  will.  The  priests  whom  he  first  called  upon 
cleansed  the  temj)le  of  the  filth  found  in  it, 
which  they  threw  into  the  Brook  Kedron.  Next 
the  King  called  upon  the  people  to  draw  nigh 
and  offer  through  the  priests  their  holy  sacrifices, 
the  burnt  offerings  and  the  sin  offerings,  while 
the  temple  was  being  reconsecrated  to  the  service 
of  the  Lord.  But  the  priests  were  not  as  ready 
for  this  holy  business  as  they  should  have  been, 
and  the  Levites  rose,  and  were  more  zealous  to 
consecrate   and    sanctify  themselves    than    the 


THE  DAILY  PORTION.  201 

priests,  so  that  then  and  tliere  the  Lord  appointed 
the  Levites  to  the  priesthood.  Tlie  Levites 
were  called  to  take  their  part  in  tlie  lioly  work 
of  the  priesthood,  offering  the  sacrifices  for  the 
people,  drawing  nigh  to  God,  and  ivceiving  of 
him  everything  that  the  priests  were  meant  to 
have — riches  and  honor  and  glory.  Alas,  they 
could  not  all  take  the  glorious  provision  intended 
for  them,  because  of  their  blindness  and  unbelief. 
What  is  that  provision?  '' Unto  everyone  .  .  . 
his  daily  portion  for  his  service  .  .  .  for  they 
sanctified  themselves  in  holiness." 

Can  you  not  now  understand  a  little  of  what 
God  has  purposed  to  give  you*?  lie  has  called 
you  to  the  priesthood,  that  is,  to  yield  yourselves 
to  him,  and  that  you  may  draw  nigh  to  him  into 
the  very  Holy  of  Holies,  by  the  new  and  living 
way,  Christ  Jesus.  "  Draw  nigh  to  God,  and  he 
will  draw  nigh  to  you."  Draw  nigh  to  God! 
Your  heart  shrinks  back  and  you  say,  "I  love 
the  Lord,  but  I  cleave  to  money,  I  cleave  to 
pleasure ;  I  cannot  come,  God  is  too  holy. ' '  Then 
down  you  go  among  the  heathen,  and  there  you 
tarry  until  you  perish  in  the  wilderness  as  did  so 
many  of  Israel.  They  could  not  know  what 
blessings  God  intended  for  his  people. 

The  first  thing  denumded  of  everyone  who 
would  be  one  of  God's  i)riests,  is  to  come  right 
into  the  presence  of  the  Holy  One.  The  incense 
is  being  offered   by  <>ur  lliiili   rrirst.    wh(>  has 


202  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE, 

opened  the  way  by  tearing  the  veil  from  top  to 
bottom.  "  By  him  we  have  access  through  one 
Spirit  unto  the  Father."  We  may,  therefore, 
go  to  God  in  perfect  peace,  notwithstanding 
his  absolute  holiness  and  our  own  unworthi- 
ness. 

But  the  priesthood  was  not  only  api^ointed  to 
come  nigh  to  God  but  that,  having  this  privilege 
they  should  bring  blessing  to  the  world  around. 
This  is  our  second  privilege,  to  magnify  God 
before  our  nation  and  the  nations  round  about 
by  showing  them  that  the  priesthood  has  the 
glorious  privilege  of  going  unto  God  and  of 
revealing  God  to  the  people. 

Moses  is  an  illustration  of  this  office  in  his 
holy  communications  with  God  in  the  Mount 
which  all  Israel  might  have  enjoyed,  when  he 
came  out  with  his  face  shining,  though  he 
wist  it  not.  Thus  God  was  glorified  in  the 
presence  of  the  world  in  the  only  man  that 
would  take  the  glorious  dignity  of  access  to  the 
dignity  and  majesty  of  God.  Oh,  beloved !  take 
your  privilege  as  those  Levites  did  in  the  days 
of  Hezekiah.  Cleanse  the  temple  when  you 
have  seen  God;  go  out  and  show  him  to  the 
people. 

What  is  the  immediate  result?  God  starts 
those  men  in  a  life  of  abundant  supply,  of  per- 
fect satisfaction,  of  constant  dependence  upon 
him,  but  of  perfect  assurance  that  they  shall 


TITK  DAILY  roimoX.  203 

never  lack  anything  that  may  be    required   in 
their  office. 

The  unsearchable  riches  of  Clirist  are  at  our 
command  in  every  time  of  need,  but  ure  n<ner  to 
be  laid  np  in  store,  hidden  away  in  our  own 
peculiar  treasure-house.  Day  l)y  day  God's 
priesthood  was  commissioned  to  wait  upon  him 
at  the  altar,  and  as  God  touched  the  hearts  of 
his  people  to  bring  sacrifices  unto  tlie  altnr,  the 
priests  should  be  abundantly  supplied.  Thiit  is 
what  God  is  offering  to  you  and  to  me.  You 
may  say  to  yourself,  "  It  sounds  well  ])ut  it  will 
never  do  for  the  wear  and  tear  of  daily  life."  It 
will,  beloved ;  the  supply  of  God  is  for  everyday 
life.  God  says  that  this  supply  is  not  to  be 
only  the  priests,  but  for  "their  little  ones,  their 
wives,  and  their  sons,  and  their  daughters," 
because  a  few  came  out  from  among  their  breth- 
ren, and  said:  "We  sanctify  ourselves  in  holi- 
ness this  day  unto  the  Lord  ''  (II.  Chron.  xxxi. 
18).  You  shall  lack  for  nothing  needful  if  you 
sanctify  yourself  in  holiness  and  if  you  do  it  with 
a  pure  heart  fervently,  and  not  sinii)ly  wishing 
to  test  God.  One  man  said  to  me :  ''  Let  us  try 
it,  sir,  in  a  few  things."  No,  my  brother,  in 
every  department  of  your  being  you  must 
sanctify  yourself  in  holiness;  which  means  to 
give  into  God's  hands  everything  you  have  with 
a  desire  that  it  shall  be  used  for  the  glory  of 
God  from  this  day  forth  and  forevermore.    Then, 


204  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

the  Lord  says :  ' '  Unto  everyone  that  entereth 
the  house  of  the  Lord,  his  daily  portion."  You 
have  been  looking  ahead  and  have  been  fret- 
ting about  the  education  of  your  children,  be- 
cause you  know  not  how  the  supply  will  come, 
how  you  can  ever  go  through  death,  or  face  the 
sacrifice  of  this  dear  child  to  the  mission  field, 
and  that  one  to  death.  Beloved,  God  never  said 
look  ahead,  God  said  look  up ;  God  never  said 
look  around,  he  only  said  look  into  the  holy  of 
holies ;  God  never  said  look  down,  he  only  said 
look  into  the  face  of  the  living  God.  ' '  Look  unto 
me,  and  be  ye  saved,  all  the  ends  of  the  earth. '^ 
As  we  look  beyond  to-day  and  say,  ''  How  can  I 
expect  that  in  the  wear  and  tear  of  daily  life, 
this  holy  peace  is  to  be  sustained  ?  ' '  the  answer 
is,  ' '  Unto  everyone  that  entereth  into  the  house 
of  the  Lord,  his  daily  portion  for  his  service, 
according  to  his  charges  in  his  courses."  God 
takes  up  every  detail  of  life  and  says:  "For 
thy  charges,''  whatever  you  have  in  charge; 
"According  to  your  courses;"  you  will  have 
your  turn.  "In  your  office,"  wherever  your 
work  is,  where  you  are,  and  where  God  wants 
you,  there  he  undertakes  to  give  you  your  daily 
supply. 

But,  beloved,  God  never  can  give  a  daily 
supply  for  the  life  that  is  in  the  temple  of  the 
Lord,  until  the  temple  of  the  Lord  is  there,  and 
men  have  entered  into  it.     It  is  a  remarkable 


THE  DA  JL  Y  PORTIOX.  205 

fact  Willi  IV -a  1(1  lo  lliosr  Lt-vites,  that  at  tli(* 
outset  of  their  career  as  a  separate  peoi)le,  they 
knew  none  of  tliis  rest  and  daily  supply.  Israel 
was  chosen  lirst  as  a  people,  but  they  rejected  it. 
Then  God  chooses  a  tribe,  but  thci  tribe  was  not 
fitted  for  the  blessing,  and  tlioii^li  they  were  set 
apart  for  God's  business  as  the  priesthood,  they 
coidd  not  have  it  because  their  liearts  were  not 
right  with  God.  What  became  of  them  ?  The 
fourth  chapter  of  the  Book  of  Numbers  tells 
how  God  appointed  the  tribe  of  Levi  to  a  bur- 
densome service.  They  had  a  second-class  serv- 
ice instead  of  a  first-class  service,  for  their  con- 
secration at  the  time  of  the  idolatry  of  Israel, 
they  were  admitted  into  something  better  than 
the  people,  but  their  service,  after  all,  was  one 
of  burden-bearing.  They  were  not  wholly  given 
to  the  Lord,  and  did  not  trust  him  as  they 
should,  and  the  people  could  not  seek  at  their 
lips  the  word  of  wisdom  and  the  word  of  power. 
That  burden- bearing  continued  all  through  the 
journey  in  the  wilderness,  throughout  their 
sojourn  in  Canaan,  until  Solomon  arose  as  the 
Prince  of  Peace  and  built  the  temple  of  the  Lord. 
When  the  temple  of  the  Lord  was  completed, 
and  was  being  consecrated  to  the  Lord,  the  ark 
was  taken  into  the  temple,  then  the  staves  were 
pulled  ,from  its  sides  to  show  that  the  burden 
bearing  of  Levi  was  ended,  and  that  the  people 
might,  like  the  jn-iests,  enter  into  the  temple  of 


206  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

the  Lord  for  rest  (I.  Kings  viii.  8).  Solomon 
built  the  temple  of  wMch  the  Lord  said,  '^Here 
will  I  rest,  and  my  people  shall  rest. ' '  Had  they 
accepted  their  i^rivilege,  Levi  would  never  again 
have  known  the  burdensome  service  which  so 
many  Christians  now  exx3erience. 

Brethren,  God  is  calling  all  his  peoi^le,  and  if 
they  refuse  then  he  calls  a  tribe;  if  the  tribe 
refuses,  he  calls  a  family ;  if  the  family  refuses, 
he  calls  a  man.  Each  one  must  answer  for 
himself  whether  or  not  he  will  take  the  blessed 
privilege  of  the  life  of  rest,  and  enter  into  the 
temple  of  the  Lord,  and  look  upon  Christ  Jesus, 
our  Ark,  with  the  mercy  seat  and  the  holy 
cherubim,  and  the  law  of  God  in  his  heart,  and 
the  manna  to  show  the  supply.  ' '  Here  will  I 
rest, ' '  saith  the  Lord ;  and  we  may  answer  back, 
^'Here  will  I  rest,  O  Lord,  for  I  have  a  supjply 
of  every  need." 

God  is  closely  linked  to  his  people,  if  they 
will  be  linked  to  him,  and  as  we  go  into  the 
Holy  of  Holies  to  look  into  the  face  of  God,  as 
he  shows  his  glory  upon  Christ  Jesus,  the  Ark 
between  the  cherubim,  God's  voice  comes  out  to 
us,  and  there  is  peace  and  calm  and  fellowship 
and  communion ;  we  are  with  God  in  the  j)resence 
of  Christ. 

Brethren,  what  more  do  you  want?  Will  you 
trust  your  Lord?  I  know  that  you  will  encoun- 
ter in  your  daily  life  difficulties  absolutely  in- 


Tin-:  PAIL)-  I'oirrios.  207 

sui)('i'al)l<'  l>y  .'iiiv  iiiiiii.'iii  |)()\s«'r,  Imt  y<»ii  ai*^ 
called  to  i):iss  liiioiiL:,!!  Jesus  Cliiist  iiilo  tlir 
presence  of  (iod,  .-ind  nic  to  coinc  out  no  more. 

Would    it    Hot     l>r    hrtler    lo    IcMNU    lo-inolTOW 

alone?  Thar  is  what  is  t i()iil)Iin^  men  ;  to-mor- 
row's triiiptiilions,  to-nioi  Tow 's  diHiciilties,  to- 
morrow's l)ni(lens,  to-moi'row's  duties.  Martin 
Luther  in  his  Autobiournpliy  s:iys,  ''I  liave  on«» 
preacher  lliat  1  lo\e  better  than  any  othn-  upon 
earth;  it  is  my  little  tame  robin  which  lueaches 
to  me  daily.  1  put  liis  crumbs  npon  my  window- 
sill,  especially  at  night.  He  hoi)S  on  to  the  sill, 
when  he  wants  his  sui)ply,  and  takes  as  much  as 
he  desires  to  satisfy  his  need.  From  thence  he 
always  hops  on  to  a  little  tree  close  by.  and  lifts 
up  his  voice  to  God,  and  sings  Lis  caiol  of  i)iaise 
and  gratitude,  tucks  his  little  head  under  his 
wing,  and  goes  fast  asleeji,  and  leaves  to-morrow 
to  look  after  itself.  He  is  the  best  preacher  that 
I  have  on  earth." 

Brethren,  the  best  i»reaching  that  we  can  give 
each  other  in  this  world  is  to  say,  trust  in  the 
Lord,  wait  on  the  Lord,  fret  not  thyself  in  any 
wise  to  do  evil,  with  a  calm  assurance  for  to-day 
that  to  be  poor  is  best.  As  a  i)oor,  beggaily  i)riest, 
without  any  inheritance,  proi)ertyor  riches,  hang 
on  God.  The  Saviour,  our  High  Priest,  himself 
taught  us  to  say,  "Our  Father,  which  art  in 
Heaven  .  .  .  give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread." 
Our   daily   portion  for   body,    soul,  and    spirit. 


208  THE  VICTORIOUS  LIFE. 

Leave  to-morrow  with  Jesiis,  for  lie  knows  liow 
to  steal  the  bitter  from  life's  woes;  he  knows 
Avhat  his  priests  reqiiire,  and  all  that  he  has 
ever  said  to  ns  is,  "  ISfow  is  the  day  of  salvation ; 
to-day  if  ye  will  hear  his  voice,  harden  not  your 
hearts."  Israel  could  not  enter  in  because  of 
unbelief.  Let  us,  therefore,  knowing  that  the 
j)romise  is  given  to  us  of  entering  into  his  rest, 
see  to  it  that  none  of  us  should  come  short  in 
any  wise  of  the  unspeakable  blessing  that  is 
offered  to  us  of  going  unto  God  for  holy  com- 
munion, coming  out  from  Gfod  to  be  a  blessing 
to  the  iDeople,  and  waiting  upon  God  every 
moment  of  our  lives  for  every  supply  that  our 
souls  could  desire,  because  he  says,  ''Ask,  and 
it  shall  be  given  you,  seek  and  ye  shall  find, 
knock  and  it  shall  be  o^Dened  unto  you." 

How  can  you  say  no  to  such  a  God,  who  is 
able  and  willing  to  give  all  that  we  can  ask  or 
think,  all  through  his  blessed  Son  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord,  who  has  been  a]3i3ointed  of  God  for 
one  purpose,  to  save  to  the  very  uttermost  all 
that  come  unto  God  by  him.  I  commend  you 
to  God  and  to  the  word  of  his  grace,  which  is 
able  to  build  \ou  up,  and  to  give  you  an  inherit- 
ance among  them  which  are  sanctified  unto 
holiness  through  faith,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus 
our  Lord. 


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one  to  Mark,  two  to  Luke,  three  to  John.  As  indicated  by 
the  title,  the  w^ork  is  pre-eminently  expository  in  character 
In  his  treatment  of  Matthew,  Mark,  and  Luke  the  author 
divides  the  text  of  sacred  Scripture  into  passages  of  about 
twelve  verses  each,  which,  taken  as  a  whole,  serves  as  a  basis 
for  a  continuous  series  of  short,  plain  "  Expositions."  To  this 
method  he  adds,  w^hen  treating  the  Gospel  by  John,  the  verse 
by  verse  exegesis.  The  practical  lessons  and  inferences  from 
the  passages  given  are  followed  by  notes  explanatory,  doctrinal, 
and  hortatory,  and  the  views  ol  other  commentators  are  pre- 
sented from  time  to  time. 

"It  is  the  kernels  without  the  shells." — Christian  Union. 

"  It  is  the  master  work  of  a  master  workman,  and  shall 
abide  among  the  noblest  works  of  the  noblest  expositor  of  the 
truth  of  God." — Religious  Herald. 

"As  practical  expositions,  these  Notes  on  the  Gospels  are 
not  excelled  by  any  works  on  the  Gospels  in  our  language." — 
Evangelical  Repository. 

"We  are  always  glad  to  get  a  new  book  from  the  pen  of 
this  admirable  writer.  His  thoughts  are  w^arm,  earnest,  spir- 
itual, and  practical.  Indeed  there  are  few  modern  writers  who 
more  happily  combine  the  instructive  with  the  popular  style 
of  writing." — Neic  York  Observer. 

"We  regard  them  as  taking  the  lead  of  all  works  of  the 
same  kind  in  respect  to  soundness  of  doctrinal  views,  and  in 
regard  to  clear  and  consistent  statements  pertaining  to  the  fun- 
damental points  of  redemption.  The  '  Thoughts '  are  critical, 
historical,  exegetical,  and  devotional,  and  will  be  of  permanent 
value  in  the  family,  in  the  school,  and  in  the  instructions  of 
the  House  of  God." — Episcopalian. 

Sent,  postpaid,  on  receipt  of  the  price,  by 

THE  BAKER  &  TAYLOR  CO.,  Publisheks, 

5  AND  7  East  Sixteenth  St.,  New  York. 


BAKER  <t-   TAYLOR  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 


SPURQEON'S  LAST  AND  BEST  WORK. 

THE  GOSPEL  OF  THE  KINGDOM:  A  Popular 
Exposition  of  the  Gospel  accohding  to  Mat- 
thew. By  C.  H.  Spurgeon.  With  IntnKiuctory 
Note  by  Mrs.  C.  H.  Spurgeon,  and  an  Introduftimi 
to  the  American  Edition  l>y  Arthur  T.  Pierson. 
12mo,  cloth,  512  pp.    $1.50. 

This  commentary  on  llie  Gospel  according  to  Mutlhew  is 
the  latest  and  ripest  of  his  life's  labors.  It  will  he  found  h 
tree,  laden  Mil h  rich  fruit;  and  evidencing  a  soil  singulaily 
fertile,  and  the  culture  uhich  bespeaks  a  divine  hushiindman. 
It  is  his  latest  work,  and  has  in  a  sense  the  aroma  of  his  dying 
days,  and  is  a  simple,  brief,  and  charming  memorial  of  the 
most  effective  poinilar  preacher  of  his  age.  Every  page  is, 
like  his  sermons,  full  of  his  Master,  aud  yet  sparkling  witli  Lis 
own  unique  individuality. 

"This  book  is  the  rich  fruit  of  an  experience  of  the  needs 
of  Christian  readers  more  full  aud  varied  than  lias  been  given 
to  many  men.  It  would  be  gilding  refined  gold  to  recommend 
the  expository  work  of  Spurgeon  to  our  readers  :  they  all  know 
what  it  is.  But  for  their  information  we  may  explain  that 
text  by  text,  or  two  or  three  texts  taken  together,  the  Gospel 
is  gone  over  with  brief,  practical,  pungent,  and  very  spiritual 
comment,  rising  at  times  into  eloquence  such  as  Spurgeon  was 
master  of.  The  titles  of  the  various  sections  are  in  tliemselves 
illuminating,  giving  in  a  very  few  words  a  comprehensive  view 
of  the  contents  of  the  section.  In  this  book  its  consecrated 
writer,  being  dead,  yet  speaketh  to  an  audience  larger,  we 
believe,  than  any  that  ever  heard  his  voice  in  life."— AVmj  York 
Evangelist. 

"  This  is  a  work  in  Mr.  Spurgeon 's  usual  style,  full  of  good 
thoughts  plainly  expressed.  The  idea  of  the  title  is  wrought 
into  every  part  of  the  book.  Every  section  has  sometliing 
about  either  the  King  or  the  Kingdom.  The  work  is  topically 
arranged,  and  so  has  a  topical  table  of  contents,  sueh  as  the 
Pedigree  of  the  King,  The  Birth  of  the  King,  The  King  Ap- 
pearing, and  The  King  A-ssailed,  and  .so  on  to  the  end  of  iia 
twenty-eight  sections  " — Church  Advocate. 

Sent,  postpaid,  on  receipt  of  the  price,  by 

THE  BAKEK  &  TAYLOR  CO.,  Publisiieks. 

5  AND  7  Ea.st  Sixteenth  St.,  New  Yokk. 


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